diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/core/static_autoscaler.go b/cluster-autoscaler/core/static_autoscaler.go
index b196df2ad752..84b09b65739f 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/core/static_autoscaler.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/core/static_autoscaler.go
@@ -365,7 +365,12 @@ func (a *StaticAutoscaler) RunOnce(currentTime time.Time) errors.AutoscalerError
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	if a.deleteCreatedNodesWithErrors() {
+	danglingNodes, err := a.deleteCreatedNodesWithErrors()
+	if err != nil {
+		klog.Warningf("Failed to remove nodes that were created with errors, skipping iteration: %v", err)
+		return nil
+	}
+	if danglingNodes {
 		klog.V(0).Infof("Some nodes that failed to create were removed, skipping iteration")
 		return nil
 	}
@@ -658,7 +663,7 @@ func removeOldUnregisteredNodes(unregisteredNodes []clusterstate.UnregisteredNod
 	return removedAny, nil
 }
 
-func (a *StaticAutoscaler) deleteCreatedNodesWithErrors() bool {
+func (a *StaticAutoscaler) deleteCreatedNodesWithErrors() (bool, error) {
 	// We always schedule deleting of incoming errornous nodes
 	// TODO[lukaszos] Consider adding logic to not retry delete every loop iteration
 	nodes := a.clusterStateRegistry.GetCreatedNodesWithErrors()
@@ -676,6 +681,9 @@ func (a *StaticAutoscaler) deleteCreatedNodesWithErrors() bool {
 			klog.Warningf("Cannot determine nodeGroup for node %v; %v", id, err)
 			continue
 		}
+		if nodeGroup == nil || reflect.ValueOf(nodeGroup).IsNil() {
+			return false, fmt.Errorf("node %s has no known nodegroup", node.GetName())
+		}
 		nodesToBeDeletedByNodeGroupId[nodeGroup.Id()] = append(nodesToBeDeletedByNodeGroupId[nodeGroup.Id()], node)
 	}
 
@@ -700,7 +708,7 @@ func (a *StaticAutoscaler) deleteCreatedNodesWithErrors() bool {
 		a.clusterStateRegistry.InvalidateNodeInstancesCacheEntry(nodeGroup)
 	}
 
-	return deletedAny
+	return deletedAny, nil
 }
 
 func (a *StaticAutoscaler) nodeGroupsById() map[string]cloudprovider.NodeGroup {
diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/core/static_autoscaler_test.go b/cluster-autoscaler/core/static_autoscaler_test.go
index 7dc079bf0ffd..cfc8e749660d 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/core/static_autoscaler_test.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/core/static_autoscaler_test.go
@@ -951,7 +951,7 @@ func TestStaticAutoscalerRunOnceWithFilteringOnUpcomingNodesEnabledNoScaleUp(t *
 		podDisruptionBudgetListerMock, daemonSetListerMock, onScaleUpMock, onScaleDownMock)
 }
 
-func TestStaticAutoscalerInstaceCreationErrors(t *testing.T) {
+func TestStaticAutoscalerInstanceCreationErrors(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// setup
 	provider := &mockprovider.CloudProvider{}
@@ -1086,7 +1086,9 @@ func TestStaticAutoscalerInstaceCreationErrors(t *testing.T) {
 	clusterState.UpdateNodes([]*apiv1.Node{}, nil, now)
 
 	// delete nodes with create errors
-	assert.True(t, autoscaler.deleteCreatedNodesWithErrors())
+	removedNodes, err := autoscaler.deleteCreatedNodesWithErrors()
+	assert.True(t, removedNodes)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	// check delete was called on correct nodes
 	nodeGroupA.AssertCalled(t, "DeleteNodes", mock.MatchedBy(
@@ -1110,7 +1112,9 @@ func TestStaticAutoscalerInstaceCreationErrors(t *testing.T) {
 	clusterState.UpdateNodes([]*apiv1.Node{}, nil, now)
 
 	// delete nodes with create errors
-	assert.True(t, autoscaler.deleteCreatedNodesWithErrors())
+	removedNodes, err = autoscaler.deleteCreatedNodesWithErrors()
+	assert.True(t, removedNodes)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	// nodes should be deleted again
 	nodeGroupA.AssertCalled(t, "DeleteNodes", mock.MatchedBy(
@@ -1173,10 +1177,48 @@ func TestStaticAutoscalerInstaceCreationErrors(t *testing.T) {
 	clusterState.UpdateNodes([]*apiv1.Node{}, nil, now)
 
 	// delete nodes with create errors
-	assert.False(t, autoscaler.deleteCreatedNodesWithErrors())
+	removedNodes, err = autoscaler.deleteCreatedNodesWithErrors()
+	assert.False(t, removedNodes)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	// we expect no more Delete Nodes
 	nodeGroupA.AssertNumberOfCalls(t, "DeleteNodes", 2)
+
+	// failed node not included by NodeGroupForNode
+	nodeGroupC := &mockprovider.NodeGroup{}
+	nodeGroupC.On("Exist").Return(true)
+	nodeGroupC.On("Autoprovisioned").Return(false)
+	nodeGroupC.On("TargetSize").Return(1, nil)
+	nodeGroupC.On("Id").Return("C")
+	nodeGroupC.On("DeleteNodes", mock.Anything).Return(nil)
+	nodeGroupC.On("Nodes").Return([]cloudprovider.Instance{
+		{
+			Id: "C1",
+			Status: &cloudprovider.InstanceStatus{
+				State: cloudprovider.InstanceCreating,
+				ErrorInfo: &cloudprovider.InstanceErrorInfo{
+					ErrorClass: cloudprovider.OutOfResourcesErrorClass,
+					ErrorCode:  "QUOTA",
+				},
+			},
+		},
+	}, nil)
+	provider = &mockprovider.CloudProvider{}
+	provider.On("NodeGroups").Return([]cloudprovider.NodeGroup{nodeGroupC})
+	provider.On("NodeGroupForNode", mock.Anything).Return(nil, nil)
+
+	clusterState = clusterstate.NewClusterStateRegistry(provider, clusterStateConfig, context.LogRecorder, NewBackoff())
+	clusterState.RefreshCloudProviderNodeInstancesCache()
+	autoscaler.clusterStateRegistry = clusterState
+
+	// update cluster state
+	clusterState.UpdateNodes([]*apiv1.Node{}, nil, time.Now())
+
+	// return early on failed nodes without matching nodegroups
+	removedNodes, err = autoscaler.deleteCreatedNodesWithErrors()
+	assert.False(t, removedNodes)
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+	nodeGroupC.AssertNumberOfCalls(t, "DeleteNodes", 0)
 }
 
 func TestStaticAutoscalerProcessorCallbacks(t *testing.T) {