diff --git a/lib/nvme/nvme_pcie.c b/lib/nvme/nvme_pcie.c
index 976e4b73c..c5967605a 100644
--- a/lib/nvme/nvme_pcie.c
+++ b/lib/nvme/nvme_pcie.c
@@ -2094,6 +2094,10 @@ nvme_pcie_qpair_process_completions(struct spdk_nvme_qpair *qpair, uint32_t max_
 		}
 
 		tr = &pqpair->tr[cpl->cid];
+		/* Prefetch the req's STAILQ_ENTRY since we'll need to access it
+		 * as part of putting the req back on the qpair's free list.
+		 */
+		__builtin_prefetch(&tr->req->stailq);
 		pqpair->sq_head = cpl->sqhd;
 
 		if (tr->req) {