diff --git a/test/eks-cluster-test/cluster-spec.yaml b/test/eks-cluster-test/cluster-spec.yaml
index 0efb1488..565248ef 100644
--- a/test/eks-cluster-test/cluster-spec.yaml
+++ b/test/eks-cluster-test/cluster-spec.yaml
@@ -4,15 +4,18 @@ kind: ClusterConfig
 metadata:
   name: nth-eks-cluster-test
   region: us-west-2
-  version: '1.22'
+  version: '1.27'
 cloudWatch:
   clusterLogging:
     enableTypes: ["*"]
 managedNodeGroups:
   - name: linux-ng
-    instanceType: t3.large
+    instanceType: t3.medium
+    amiFamily: AmazonLinux2
+    desiredCapacity: 2
     minSize: 2
     maxSize: 2
+    spot: true
 nodeGroups:
   - name: windows-ng
     instanceType: m5.large
diff --git a/test/eks-cluster-test/provision-cluster b/test/eks-cluster-test/provision-cluster
index 82ca1aad..76bada23 100755
--- a/test/eks-cluster-test/provision-cluster
+++ b/test/eks-cluster-test/provision-cluster
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ CLUSTER_NAME="nth-eks-cluster-test"
 cluster_exists=$(eksctl get cluster --region $REGION | grep "$CLUSTER_NAME" || :)
 if [[ -z $cluster_exists ]]; then
   echo "🥑 Provisioning EKS cluster"
-  eksctl create cluster -f $CLUSTER_CONFIG_FILE --install-vpc-controllers
+  eksctl create cluster -f $CLUSTER_CONFIG_FILE
 else
   echo "🥑 $CLUSTER_NAME already exists; continuing with test run"
 fi
diff --git a/test/eks-cluster-test/run-test b/test/eks-cluster-test/run-test
index 87df0c5e..9d6a7f77 100755
--- a/test/eks-cluster-test/run-test
+++ b/test/eks-cluster-test/run-test
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ echo "INSTANCE_METADATA_URL=${INSTANCE_METADATA_URL:=$EC2_METADATA_URL}"
 
 # Label first linux node in cluster; nth will be deployed to this node ONLY -- NEEDED FOR LINUX RUN ONLY:
 if [[ $TEST_OS = "linux" ]]; then
-  nth_node=$(kubectl get node --selector="kubernetes.io/os=linux" --output jsonpath='{.items[-1].metadata.name}')
+  nth_node=$(kubectl get node --selector="kubernetes.io/os=linux" --output jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}')
   export NTH_WORKER_LABEL="role=nth_worker"
   kubectl label nodes $nth_node $NTH_WORKER_LABEL --overwrite
 fi
@@ -171,10 +171,7 @@ if ! kubectl get svc >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
-TEST_NODE=$(kubectl get nodes -l kubernetes.io/os=$TEST_OS |
-    tail -n +2 |
-    tr -s "\t" " " |
-    cut -d" " -f1)
+TEST_NODE=$(kubectl get nodes -l kubernetes.io/os=$TEST_OS --output jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}')
 export TEST_NODE
 echo "TEST_NODE=${TEST_NODE:?"not found"}"