diff --git a/cluster/gke/config-common.sh b/cluster/gke/config-common.sh
index 911891e9153..394147c2d57 100644
--- a/cluster/gke/config-common.sh
+++ b/cluster/gke/config-common.sh
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 MASTER_NAME="k8s-${CLUSTER_NAME}-master"
 ZONE="${ZONE:-us-central1-f}"
 NUM_MINIONS="${NUM_MINIONS:-2}"
+MINION_NAMES=($(eval echo "k8s-${CLUSTER_NAME}-node-{1..${NUM_MINIONS}}"))
 CLUSTER_API_VERSION="${CLUSTER_API_VERSION:-}"
 # TODO(mbforbes): Actually plumb this through; this currently only works
 #                 because we use the 'default' network by default.
diff --git a/cluster/gke/util.sh b/cluster/gke/util.sh
index 3754caf468f..2b92efed561 100644
--- a/cluster/gke/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/gke/util.sh
@@ -188,14 +188,9 @@ function detect-master() {
 #   NUM_MINIONS
 #   CLUSTER_NAME
 # Vars set:
-#   MINION_NAMES (array)
+#   (none)
 function detect-minions() {
   echo "... in detect-minions()" >&2
-  # Just get the minion names.
-  MINION_NAMES=()
-  for (( i=1; i<=${NUM_MINIONS}; i++)); do
-    MINION_NAMES+=("k8s-${CLUSTER_NAME}-node-${i}")
-  done
 }
 
 # SSH to a node by name ($1) and run a command ($2).