diff --git a/test/e2e/autoscaling/cluster_size_autoscaling.go b/test/e2e/autoscaling/cluster_size_autoscaling.go
index 6bf0744bee5..0e820d59600 100644
--- a/test/e2e/autoscaling/cluster_size_autoscaling.go
+++ b/test/e2e/autoscaling/cluster_size_autoscaling.go
@@ -1304,11 +1304,18 @@ func deleteNodePool(name string) {
 	glog.Infof("Deleting node pool %s", name)
 	args := []string{"container", "node-pools", "delete", name, "--quiet",
 		"--cluster=" + framework.TestContext.CloudConfig.Cluster}
-	output, err := execCmd(getGcloudCommand(args)...).CombinedOutput()
-	if err != nil {
-		glog.Infof("Error: %v", err)
-	}
-	glog.Infof("Node-pool deletion output: %s", output)
+	err := wait.ExponentialBackoff(
+		wait.Backoff{Duration: 1 * time.Minute, Factor: float64(3), Steps: 3},
+		func() (bool, error) {
+			output, err := execCmd(getGcloudCommand(args)...).CombinedOutput()
+			if err != nil {
+				glog.Warningf("Error deleting nodegroup - error:%v, output: %s", err, output)
+				return false, nil
+			}
+			glog.Infof("Node-pool deletion output: %s", output)
+			return true, nil
+		})
+	framework.ExpectNoError(err)
 }
 
 func getPoolNodes(f *framework.Framework, poolName string) []*v1.Node {