I looked up what happens at this stage in a successful rocky 8.8 installation:
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062018.4710] device (ib0): carrier: link connected
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062018.4712] device (ib0): state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'carrier-changed', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062018.4715] policy: auto-activating connection 'ib0' (b36dea13-3639-4e72-b587-97fcdfc23179)
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062018.4720] device (ib0): Activation: starting connection 'ib0' (b36dea13-3639-4e72-b587-97fcdfc23179)
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062018.4720] device (ib0): state change: disconnected -> prepare (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
12:20:18,472 INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062018.4721] manager: NetworkManager state is now CONNECTING
INFO kernel:IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): ib0: link is not ready
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062019.2019] device (ib0): state change: prepare -> config (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062019.2024] device (ib0): state change: config -> ip-config (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062019.2027] policy: set 'ib0' (ib0) as default for IPv4 routing and DNS
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062019.2098] device (ib0): carrier: link connected
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062019.2099] device (ib0): state change: ip-config -> ip-check (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062019.2100] device (ib0): state change: ip-check -> secondaries (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062019.2100] device (ib0): state change: secondaries -> activated (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062019.2101] manager: NetworkManager state is now CONNECTED_SITE
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062019.2102] device (ib0): Activation: successful, device activated.
12:20:19,210 INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062019.2103] manager: NetworkManager state is now CONNECTED_GLOBAL
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062571.5144] manager: startup complete
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062571.5144] quitting now that startup is complete
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062571.5155] manager: NetworkManager state is now CONNECTED_SITE
INFO NetworkManager:<info> [1705062571.5156] exiting (success)
INFO dracut-initqueue:anaconda: stage2 locations are: http://10.20.3.214/rocky/8.8/BaseOS/x86_64/os/
INFO dracut-initqueue:anaconda: fetching stage2 from http://10.20.3.214/rocky/8.8/BaseOS/x86_64/os/
So, no surprises: The NetworkManager in the initrd finally kicks in, gets the network interface up and anaconda can take over.