diff --git a/core/services/ocr2/plugins/ocr2keeper/evmregistry/v21/mercury/mercury.go b/core/services/ocr2/plugins/ocr2keeper/evmregistry/v21/mercury/mercury.go
index d24442b6ee9..45f1b54b2cd 100644
--- a/core/services/ocr2/plugins/ocr2keeper/evmregistry/v21/mercury/mercury.go
+++ b/core/services/ocr2/plugins/ocr2keeper/evmregistry/v21/mercury/mercury.go
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ const (
 	BlockNumber              = "blockNumber" // valid for v0.2
 	Timestamp                = "timestamp"   // valid for v0.3
 	totalFastPluginRetries   = 5
-	totalMediumPluginRetries = 10
+	totalMediumPluginRetries = totalFastPluginRetries + 1
+	RetryIntervalTimeout     = time.Duration(-1)
 )
 
 var GenerateHMACFn = func(method string, path string, body []byte, clientId string, secret string, ts int64) string {
@@ -45,8 +46,7 @@ var GenerateHMACFn = func(method string, path string, body []byte, clientId stri
 }
 
 // CalculateRetryConfig returns plugin retry interval based on how many times plugin has retried this work
-var CalculateRetryConfigFn = func(prk string, mercuryConfig MercuryConfigProvider) time.Duration {
-	var retryInterval time.Duration
+var CalculateRetryConfigFn = func(prk string, mercuryConfig MercuryConfigProvider) (retryInterval time.Duration) {
 	var retries int
 	totalAttempts, ok := mercuryConfig.GetPluginRetry(prk)
 	if ok {
@@ -55,9 +55,9 @@ var CalculateRetryConfigFn = func(prk string, mercuryConfig MercuryConfigProvide
 			retryInterval = 1 * time.Second
 		} else if retries < totalMediumPluginRetries {
 			retryInterval = 5 * time.Second
+		} else {
+			retryInterval = RetryIntervalTimeout
 		}
-		// if the core node has retried totalMediumPluginRetries times, do not set retry interval and plugin will use
-		// the default interval
 	} else {
 		retryInterval = 1 * time.Second
 	}
diff --git a/core/services/ocr2/plugins/ocr2keeper/evmregistry/v21/mercury/mercury_test.go b/core/services/ocr2/plugins/ocr2keeper/evmregistry/v21/mercury/mercury_test.go
index ce82ec7ae8f..3854253d48a 100644
--- a/core/services/ocr2/plugins/ocr2keeper/evmregistry/v21/mercury/mercury_test.go
+++ b/core/services/ocr2/plugins/ocr2keeper/evmregistry/v21/mercury/mercury_test.go
@@ -5,12 +5,15 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"math/big"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
+	"github.com/patrickmn/go-cache"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/common/hexutil"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 
+	"github.com/smartcontractkit/chainlink-common/pkg/types"
 	"github.com/smartcontractkit/chainlink/v2/core/services/ocr2/plugins/ocr2keeper/evmregistry/v21/encoding"
 )
 
@@ -240,3 +243,77 @@ func TestPacker_UnpackCheckCallbackResult(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func Test_CalculateRetryConfigFn(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name     string
+		times    int
+		expected time.Duration
+	}{
+		{
+			name:     "first retry",
+			times:    1,
+			expected: 1 * time.Second,
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "second retry",
+			times:    2,
+			expected: 1 * time.Second,
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "fifth retry",
+			times:    5,
+			expected: 1 * time.Second,
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "sixth retry",
+			times:    6,
+			expected: 5 * time.Second,
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "timeout",
+			times:    totalMediumPluginRetries + 1,
+			expected: RetryIntervalTimeout,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			cfg := newMercuryConfigMock()
+			var result time.Duration
+			for i := 0; i < tc.times; i++ {
+				result = CalculateRetryConfigFn("prk", cfg)
+			}
+			assert.Equal(t, tc.expected, result)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+type mercuryConfigMock struct {
+	pluginRetryCache *cache.Cache
+}
+
+func newMercuryConfigMock() *mercuryConfigMock {
+	return &mercuryConfigMock{
+		pluginRetryCache: cache.New(10*time.Second, time.Minute),
+	}
+}
+
+func (c *mercuryConfigMock) Credentials() *types.MercuryCredentials {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (c *mercuryConfigMock) IsUpkeepAllowed(k string) (interface{}, bool) {
+	return nil, false
+}
+
+func (c *mercuryConfigMock) SetUpkeepAllowed(k string, v interface{}, d time.Duration) {
+}
+
+func (c *mercuryConfigMock) GetPluginRetry(k string) (interface{}, bool) {
+	return c.pluginRetryCache.Get(k)
+}
+
+func (c *mercuryConfigMock) SetPluginRetry(k string, v interface{}, d time.Duration) {
+	c.pluginRetryCache.Set(k, v, d)
+}