diff --git a/teuthology/task/kernel.py b/teuthology/task/kernel.py
index 59242d31b..22cd1a69c 100644
--- a/teuthology/task/kernel.py
+++ b/teuthology/task/kernel.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-CONFIG_DEFAULT = {'branch': 'main'}
+CONFIG_DEFAULT = {'branch': 'distro', 'sha1': 'distro'}
 TIMEOUT_DEFAULT = 300
 
 VERSION_KEYS = ['branch', 'tag', 'sha1', 'deb', 'rpm', 'koji', 'koji_task']