diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/drain/drain_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/drain/drain_test.go
index 4990f67a833..1fcf9d7a80f 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/drain/drain_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/drain/drain_test.go
@@ -867,7 +867,7 @@ func TestDrain(t *testing.T) {
 				switch {
 				case recovered != nil && !sawFatal:
 					t.Fatalf("got panic: %v", recovered)
-				case test.expectFatal && !sawFatal:
+				case test.expectDelete && test.expectFatal && !sawFatal:
 					t.Fatalf("%s: unexpected non-error when using %s", test.description, currMethod)
 				case !test.expectFatal && sawFatal:
 					t.Fatalf("%s: unexpected error when using %s: %s", test.description, currMethod, fatalMsg)
@@ -903,7 +903,7 @@ func TestDrain(t *testing.T) {
 					t.Fatalf("%s: same pod deleted %d times and evicted %d times", test.description, deletions, evictions)
 				}
 
-				if len(test.expectWarning) > 0 {
+				if test.expectDelete && len(test.expectWarning) > 0 {
 					if len(errBuf.String()) == 0 {
 						t.Fatalf("%s: expected warning, but found no stderr output", test.description)
 					}
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/drain/drain.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/drain/drain.go
index a941b74935a..d123dd33554 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/drain/drain.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/drain/drain.go
@@ -155,10 +155,12 @@ func (d *Helper) GetPodsForDeletion(nodeName string) (*podDeleteList, []error) {
 				break
 			}
 		}
-		pods = append(pods, podDelete{
-			pod:    pod,
-			status: status,
-		})
+		if status.delete {
+			pods = append(pods, podDelete{
+				pod:    pod,
+				status: status,
+			})
+		}
 	}
 
 	list := &podDeleteList{items: pods}