diff --git a/release-tools/prow.sh b/release-tools/prow.sh
index 3b9621a21..97e931806 100755
--- a/release-tools/prow.sh
+++ b/release-tools/prow.sh
@@ -579,7 +579,13 @@ EOF
     KUBECONFIG="$(kind get kubeconfig-path --name=csi-prow)"
     export KUBECONFIG
 }
-
+# Deletes kind cluster
+delete_cluster() {
+    if kind get clusters | grep -q csi-prow; then
+        run kind delete cluster --name=csi-prow || die "kind delete failed"
+    fi
+    unset KUBECONFIG
+}
 # Looks for the deployment as specified by CSI_PROW_DEPLOYMENT and CSI_PROW_KUBERNETES_VERSION
 # in the given directory.
 find_deployment () {
@@ -1017,6 +1023,12 @@ main () {
                     fi
                 fi
             fi
+            # Inside a real Prow job it is better to clean up at runtime
+            # instead of leaving that to the Prow job cleanup code
+            # because the later sometimes times out (https://github.com/kubernetes-csi/csi-release-tools/issues/24#issuecomment-554765872).
+            if [ "$JOB_NAME" ]; then
+                delete_cluster
+            fi
         fi
 
         if tests_need_alpha_cluster && [ "${CSI_PROW_E2E_ALPHA_GATES}" ]; then
@@ -1047,6 +1059,7 @@ main () {
                     fi
                 fi
             fi
+            delete_cluster
         fi
     fi