diff --git a/awx/main/scheduler/kubernetes.py b/awx/main/scheduler/kubernetes.py
index f4e35caec9..90f2849c3d 100644
--- a/awx/main/scheduler/kubernetes.py
+++ b/awx/main/scheduler/kubernetes.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import stat
 import time
 import yaml
 import tempfile
+import logging
 from base64 import b64encode
 
 from django.conf import settings
@@ -11,6 +12,8 @@ from django.utils.functional import cached_property
 
 from awx.main.utils.common import parse_yaml_or_json
 
+logger = logging.getLogger('awx.main.scheduler')
+
 
 class PodManager(object):
 
@@ -21,29 +24,33 @@ class PodManager(object):
         if not self.credential.kubernetes:
             raise RuntimeError('Pod deployment cannot occur without a Kubernetes credential')
 
-
         self.kube_api.create_namespaced_pod(body=self.pod_definition,
                                             namespace=self.namespace,
-                                            _request_timeout=settings.AWX_CONTAINER_GROUP_DEFAULT_LAUNCH_TIMEOUT)
+                                            _request_timeout=settings.AWX_CONTAINER_GROUP_K8S_API_TIMEOUT)
 
-        while True:
+        num_retries = settings.AWX_CONTAINER_GROUP_POD_LAUNCH_RETRIES
+        for retry_attempt in range(num_retries - 1):
+            logger.debug(f"Checking for pod {self.pod_name}. Attempt {retry_attempt + 1} of {num_retries}")
             pod = self.kube_api.read_namespaced_pod(name=self.pod_name,
                                                     namespace=self.namespace,
-                                                    _request_timeout=settings.AWX_CONTAINER_GROUP_DEFAULT_LAUNCH_TIMEOUT)
+                                                    _request_timeout=settings.AWX_CONTAINER_GROUP_K8S_API_TIMEOUT)
             if pod.status.phase != 'Pending':
                 break
-            time.sleep(1)
+            else:
+                logger.debug(f"Pod {self.pod_name} is Pending.")
+                time.sleep(settings.AWX_CONTAINER_GROUP_POD_LAUNCH_RETRY_DELAY)
+                continue
 
         if pod.status.phase == 'Running':
+            logger.debug(f"Pod {self.pod_name} is online.")
             return pod
         else:
-            raise RuntimeError(f"Unhandled Pod phase: {pod.status.phase}")
-
+            logger.warn(f"Pod {self.pod_name} did not start. Status is {pod.status.phase}.")
 
     def delete(self):
         return self.kube_api.delete_namespaced_pod(name=self.pod_name,
                                                    namespace=self.namespace,
-                                                   _request_timeout=settings.AWX_CONTAINER_GROUP_DEFAULT_LAUNCH_TIMEOUT)
+                                                   _request_timeout=settings.AWX_CONTAINER_GROUP_K8S_API_TIMEOUT)
 
     @property
     def namespace(self):
diff --git a/awx/main/tasks.py b/awx/main/tasks.py
index 6253446cd5..d46965ff46 100644
--- a/awx/main/tasks.py
+++ b/awx/main/tasks.py
@@ -1405,13 +1405,15 @@ class BaseTask(object):
             if isinstance(exc, ApiException) and exc.status == 403:
                 try:
                     if 'exceeded quota' in json.loads(exc.body)['message']:
-                        # If the k8s cluster does not have capacity, we move the job back into
-                        # pending and immediately reschedule the task manager.
+                        # If the k8s cluster does not have capacity, we move the
+                        # job back into pending and wait until the next run of
+                        # the task manager. This does not exactly play well with
+                        # our current instance group precendence logic, since it
+                        # will just sit here forever if kubernetes returns this
+                        # error.
                         logger.warn(exc.body)
                         logger.warn(f"Could not launch pod for {log_name}. Exceeded quota.")
-                        time.sleep(10)
                         self.update_model(task.pk, status='pending')
-                        schedule_task_manager()
                         return
                 except Exception:
                     logger.exception(f"Unable to handle response from Kubernetes API for {log_name}.")
@@ -1420,7 +1422,6 @@ class BaseTask(object):
             self.update_model(task.pk, status='error', result_traceback=exc.body)
             return
 
-        logger.debug(f"Pod online. Starting {log_name}.")
         self.update_model(task.pk, execution_node=pod_manager.pod_name)
         return pod_manager
 
@@ -1833,7 +1834,10 @@ class RunJob(BaseTask):
 
         if job.is_containerized:
             from awx.main.scheduler.kubernetes import PodManager # prevent circular import
-            PodManager(job).delete()
+            pm = PodManager(job)
+            logger.debug(f"Deleting pod {pm.pod_name}")
+            pm.delete()
+
 
         try:
             inventory = job.inventory
diff --git a/awx/settings/defaults.py b/awx/settings/defaults.py
index 639d19f9e8..07c76f8b01 100644
--- a/awx/settings/defaults.py
+++ b/awx/settings/defaults.py
@@ -67,7 +67,9 @@ DATABASES = {
     }
 }
 
-AWX_CONTAINER_GROUP_DEFAULT_LAUNCH_TIMEOUT = 10
+AWX_CONTAINER_GROUP_K8S_API_TIMEOUT = 10
+AWX_CONTAINER_GROUP_POD_LAUNCH_RETRIES = 100
+AWX_CONTAINER_GROUP_POD_LAUNCH_RETRY_DELAY = 5
 AWX_CONTAINER_GROUP_DEFAULT_NAMESPACE = 'default'
 AWX_CONTAINER_GROUP_DEFAULT_IMAGE = 'ansible/ansible-runner'