diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
index a4974265a1..535afb6bad 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
@@ -84,8 +84,6 @@ CONTAINER_RUNTIME=${KUBE_CONTAINER_RUNTIME:-docker}
 CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT=${KUBE_CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT:-}
 CONTAINER_RUNTIME_NAME=${KUBE_CONTAINER_RUNTIME_NAME:-}
 LOAD_IMAGE_COMMAND=${KUBE_LOAD_IMAGE_COMMAND:-}
-RKT_VERSION=${KUBE_RKT_VERSION:-1.23.0}
-RKT_STAGE1_IMAGE=${KUBE_RKT_STAGE1_IMAGE:-coreos.com/rkt/stage1-coreos}
 # MASTER_EXTRA_METADATA is the extra instance metadata on master instance separated by commas.
 MASTER_EXTRA_METADATA=${KUBE_MASTER_EXTRA_METADATA:-${KUBE_EXTRA_METADATA:-}}
 # MASTER_EXTRA_METADATA is the extra instance metadata on node instance separated by commas.
diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
index c90c781ce7..69056063fa 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
@@ -83,8 +83,6 @@ CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT=${KUBE_CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT:-}
 CONTAINER_RUNTIME_NAME=${KUBE_CONTAINER_RUNTIME_NAME:-}
 LOAD_IMAGE_COMMAND=${KUBE_LOAD_IMAGE_COMMAND:-}
 GCI_DOCKER_VERSION=${KUBE_GCI_DOCKER_VERSION:-}
-RKT_VERSION=${KUBE_RKT_VERSION:-1.23.0}
-RKT_STAGE1_IMAGE=${KUBE_RKT_STAGE1_IMAGE:-coreos.com/rkt/stage1-coreos}
 # MASTER_EXTRA_METADATA is the extra instance metadata on master instance separated by commas.
 MASTER_EXTRA_METADATA=${KUBE_MASTER_EXTRA_METADATA:-${KUBE_EXTRA_METADATA:-}}
 # MASTER_EXTRA_METADATA is the extra instance metadata on node instance separated by commas.
diff --git a/cluster/gce/gci/mounter/stage-upload.sh b/cluster/gce/gci/mounter/stage-upload.sh
index 66780da381..f3359447c3 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/gci/mounter/stage-upload.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/gci/mounter/stage-upload.sh
@@ -23,12 +23,10 @@ set -o errexit
 set -o pipefail
 set -o nounset
 
-RKT_VERSION="v1.18.0"
 DOCKER2ACI_VERSION="v0.13.0"
 MOUNTER_VERSION=$1
 DOCKER_IMAGE=docker://$2
 MOUNTER_ACI_IMAGE=gci-mounter-${MOUNTER_VERSION}.aci
-RKT_GCS_DIR=gs://kubernetes-release/rkt/
 MOUNTER_GCS_DIR=gs://kubernetes-release/gci-mounter/
 
 TMPDIR=/tmp
@@ -37,7 +35,6 @@ DOWNLOAD_DIR=$(mktemp --tmpdir=${TMPDIR} -d gci-mounter-build.XXXXXXXXXX)
 
 # Setup a staging directory
 STAGING_DIR=$(mktemp --tmpdir=${TMPDIR} -d gci-mounter-staging.XXXXXXXXXX)
-RKT_DIR=${STAGING_DIR}/${RKT_VERSION}
 ACI_DIR=${STAGING_DIR}/gci-mounter
 CWD=${PWD}
 
@@ -51,20 +48,8 @@ function cleanup {
 # Delete temporary directories on exit
 trap cleanup EXIT
 
-mkdir ${RKT_DIR}
 mkdir ${ACI_DIR}
 
-# Download rkt
-cd ${DOWNLOAD_DIR}
-echo "Downloading rkt ${RKT_VERSION}"
-wget "https://github.com/coreos/rkt/releases/download/${RKT_VERSION}/rkt-${RKT_VERSION}.tar.gz" &> /dev/null
-echo "Extracting rkt ${RKT_VERSION}"
-tar xzf rkt-${RKT_VERSION}.tar.gz
-
-# Stage rkt into working directory
-cp rkt-${RKT_VERSION}/rkt ${RKT_DIR}/rkt
-cp rkt-${RKT_VERSION}/stage1-fly.aci ${RKT_DIR}/
-
 # Convert docker image to aci and stage it
 echo "Downloading docker2aci ${DOCKER2ACI_VERSION}"
 wget "https://github.com/appc/docker2aci/releases/download/${DOCKER2ACI_VERSION}/docker2aci-${DOCKER2ACI_VERSION}.tar.gz" &> /dev/null
@@ -74,13 +59,9 @@ ACI_IMAGE=$(${DOWNLOAD_DIR}/docker2aci-${DOCKER2ACI_VERSION}/docker2aci ${DOCKER
 cp ${ACI_IMAGE} ${ACI_DIR}/${MOUNTER_ACI_IMAGE}
 
 # Upload the contents to gcs
-echo "Uploading rkt artifacts in ${RKT_DIR} to ${RKT_GCS_DIR}"
-gsutil cp -R ${RKT_DIR} ${RKT_GCS_DIR}
 echo "Uploading gci mounter ACI in ${ACI_DIR} to ${MOUNTER_GCS_DIR}"
 gsutil cp ${ACI_DIR}/${MOUNTER_ACI_IMAGE} ${MOUNTER_GCS_DIR}
 
 echo "Upload completed"
-echo "Update rkt, stag1-fly.aci & gci-mounter ACI versions and SHA1 in cluster/gce/gci/configure.sh"
-echo "${RKT_VERSION}/rkt sha1: $(sha1sum ${RKT_DIR}/rkt)"
-echo "${RKT_VERSION}/stage1-fly.aci sha1: $(sha1sum ${RKT_DIR}/stage1-fly.aci)"
+echo "Updated gci-mounter ACI version and SHA1 in cluster/gce/gci/configure.sh"
 echo "${MOUNTER_ACI_IMAGE} hash: $(sha1sum ${ACI_DIR}/${MOUNTER_ACI_IMAGE})"
diff --git a/hack/local-up-cluster.sh b/hack/local-up-cluster.sh
index 0d762d491b..5c301b31a4 100755
--- a/hack/local-up-cluster.sh
+++ b/hack/local-up-cluster.sh
@@ -204,23 +204,6 @@ else
     echo "skipped the build."
 fi
 
-function test_rkt {
-    if [[ -n "${RKT_PATH}" ]]; then
-      ${RKT_PATH} list 2> /dev/null 1> /dev/null
-      if [ "$?" != "0" ]; then
-        echo "Failed to successfully run 'rkt list', please verify that ${RKT_PATH} is the path of rkt binary."
-        exit 1
-      fi
-    else
-      rkt list 2> /dev/null 1> /dev/null
-      if [ "$?" != "0" ]; then
-        echo "Failed to successfully run 'rkt list', please verify that rkt is in \$PATH."
-        exit 1
-      fi
-    fi
-}
-
-
 # Shut down anyway if there's an error.
 set +e
 
@@ -245,8 +228,6 @@ LOG_DIR=${LOG_DIR:-"/tmp"}
 CONTAINER_RUNTIME=${CONTAINER_RUNTIME:-"docker"}
 CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT=${CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT:-""}
 IMAGE_SERVICE_ENDPOINT=${IMAGE_SERVICE_ENDPOINT:-""}
-RKT_PATH=${RKT_PATH:-""}
-RKT_STAGE1_IMAGE=${RKT_STAGE1_IMAGE:-""}
 CHAOS_CHANCE=${CHAOS_CHANCE:-0.0}
 CPU_CFS_QUOTA=${CPU_CFS_QUOTA:-true}
 ENABLE_HOSTPATH_PROVISIONER=${ENABLE_HOSTPATH_PROVISIONER:-"false"}
@@ -734,8 +715,6 @@ function start_kubelet {
         --vmodule="${LOG_SPEC}" \
         --chaos-chance="${CHAOS_CHANCE}" \
         --container-runtime="${CONTAINER_RUNTIME}" \
-        --rkt-path="${RKT_PATH}" \
-        --rkt-stage1-image="${RKT_STAGE1_IMAGE}" \
         --hostname-override="${HOSTNAME_OVERRIDE}" \
         ${cloud_config_arg} \
         --address="${KUBELET_HOST}" \
@@ -965,10 +944,6 @@ if [ "${CONTAINER_RUNTIME}" == "docker" ] && ! kube::util::ensure_docker_daemon_
   exit 1
 fi
 
-if [[ "${CONTAINER_RUNTIME}" == "rkt" ]]; then
-  test_rkt
-fi
-
 if [[ "${START_MODE}" != "kubeletonly" ]]; then
   test_apiserver_off
 fi