diff --git a/lib/ansible/runner/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/runner/__init__.py
index b41d28248d7..93924d402c1 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/runner/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/runner/__init__.py
@@ -491,9 +491,7 @@ class Runner(object):
 
         basefile = 'ansible-%s-%s' % (time.time(), random.randint(0, 2**48))
         basetmp = os.path.join(C.DEFAULT_REMOTE_TMP, basefile)
-        if self.remote_user == 'root':
-            basetmp = os.path.join('/var/tmp', basefile)
-        elif self.sudo and self.sudo_user != 'root':
+        if self.sudo and self.sudo_user != 'root':
             basetmp = os.path.join('/tmp', basefile)
 
         cmd = 'mkdir -p %s' % basetmp