@@ -2360,7 +2360,7 @@ def _findwheel(pkgname):
     filenames = os.listdir(wheel_dir)
     filenames = sorted(filenames, reverse=True)  # approximate "newest" first
     for filename in filenames:
-        # filename is like 'setuptools-67.6.1-py3-none-any.whl'
+        # filename is like 'setuptools-{version}-py3-none-any.whl'
         if not filename.endswith(".whl"):
             continue
         prefix = pkgname + '-'
@@ -2369,16 +2369,16 @@ def _findwheel(pkgname):
     raise FileNotFoundError(f"No wheel for {pkgname} found in {wheel_dir}")
 
 
-# Context manager that creates a virtual environment, install setuptools and wheel in it
-# and returns the path to the venv directory and the path to the python executable
+# Context manager that creates a virtual environment, install setuptools in it,
+# and returns the paths to the venv directory and the python executable
 @contextlib.contextmanager
-def setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools_wheel(venv_dir):
-    import shlex
+def setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools(venv_dir):
     import subprocess
     from .os_helper import temp_cwd
 
     def run_command(cmd):
         if verbose:
+            import shlex
             print()
             print('Run:', ' '.join(map(shlex.quote, cmd)))
             subprocess.run(cmd, check=True)
@@ -2402,10 +2402,10 @@ def run_command(cmd):
         else:
             python = os.path.join(venv, 'bin', python_exe)
 
-        cmd = [python, '-X', 'dev',
+        cmd = (python, '-X', 'dev',
                '-m', 'pip', 'install',
                _findwheel('setuptools'),
-               _findwheel('wheel')]
+               )
         run_command(cmd)
 
         yield python
 
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ def test_build_limited_c11(self):
 
     def check_build(self, extension_name, std=None, limited=False):
         venv_dir = 'env'
-        with support.setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools_wheel(venv_dir) as python_exe:
+        with support.setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools(venv_dir) as python_exe:
             self._check_build(extension_name, python_exe,
                               std=std, limited=limited)
 
 
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ def test_build_limited(self):
 
     def check_build(self, extension_name, std=None, limited=False):
         venv_dir = 'env'
-        with support.setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools_wheel(venv_dir) as python_exe:
+        with support.setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools(venv_dir) as python_exe:
             self._check_build(extension_name, python_exe,
                               std=std, limited=limited)
 
 
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import os
 import platform
 import shlex
+import sys
 import sysconfig
 from test import support
 
 
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ def setUpClass(cls):
         cls.addClassCleanup(shutil.rmtree, cls.library_dir)
 
         with contextlib.ExitStack() as stack:
-            python_exe = stack.enter_context(support.setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools_wheel("venv"))
+            python_exe = stack.enter_context(support.setup_venv_with_pip_setuptools("venv"))
             sitepackages = subprocess.check_output(
                 [python_exe, "-c", "import sysconfig; print(sysconfig.get_path('platlib'))"],
                 text=True,