diff --git a/lib/nvme/nvme_pcie.c b/lib/nvme/nvme_pcie.c
index 5c710efad..ec9058cbd 100644
--- a/lib/nvme/nvme_pcie.c
+++ b/lib/nvme/nvme_pcie.c
@@ -1383,6 +1383,8 @@ nvme_pcie_qpair_complete_tracker(struct spdk_nvme_qpair *qpair, struct nvme_trac
 		req->retries++;
 		nvme_pcie_qpair_submit_tracker(qpair, tr);
 	} else {
+		TAILQ_REMOVE(&pqpair->outstanding_tr, tr, tq_list);
+
 		/* Only check admin requests from different processes. */
 		if (nvme_qpair_is_admin_queue(qpair) && req->pid != getpid()) {
 			req_from_current_proc = false;
@@ -1397,7 +1399,6 @@ nvme_pcie_qpair_complete_tracker(struct spdk_nvme_qpair *qpair, struct nvme_trac
 
 		tr->req = NULL;
 
-		TAILQ_REMOVE(&pqpair->outstanding_tr, tr, tq_list);
 		TAILQ_INSERT_HEAD(&pqpair->free_tr, tr, tq_list);
 	}
 }