diff --git a/python/test/unit/runtime/test_autotuner.py b/python/test/unit/runtime/test_autotuner.py
index d9b972d6bfd2..90bb4f8790ec 100644
--- a/python/test/unit/runtime/test_autotuner.py
+++ b/python/test/unit/runtime/test_autotuner.py
@@ -9,14 +9,15 @@
 from triton._internal_testing import is_cuda
 
 
-def do_bench(kernel_call, quantiles, use_cuda_graph=False):
+def do_bench(kernel_call, quantiles, use_cuda_graph=False, clear_cache=False):
     if use_cuda_graph:
-        return triton.testing.do_bench_cudagraph(kernel_call, quantiles=quantiles)
+        return triton.testing.do_bench_cudagraph(kernel_call, quantiles=quantiles, clear_cache=clear_cache)
+    assert not clear_cache, "clear_cache arg is only meaningful with do_bench_cudagraph"
     return triton.testing.do_bench(kernel_call, quantiles=quantiles, warmup=1, rep=1)
 
 
-@pytest.mark.parametrize('use_cuda_graph', [False, True])
-def test_kwargs(use_cuda_graph: bool, device: str):
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('use_cuda_graph,clear_cache', [(False, False), (True, False), (True, True)])
+def test_kwargs(use_cuda_graph: bool, clear_cache: bool, device: str):
     if use_cuda_graph and not torch.cuda.is_available():
         pytest.xfail("CUDA is not available")
 
@@ -26,8 +27,11 @@ def test_kwargs(use_cuda_graph: bool, device: str):
 
     configs = [triton.Config(kwargs={'BLOCK_SIZE_M': 32}), triton.Config(kwargs={'BLOCK_SIZE_M': 128})]
 
-    @triton.autotune(configs=configs, key=["M"],
-                     do_bench=lambda kernel, quantiles: do_bench(kernel, quantiles, use_cuda_graph))
+    @triton.autotune(
+        configs=configs,
+        key=["M"],
+        do_bench=lambda kernel, quantiles: do_bench(kernel, quantiles, use_cuda_graph, clear_cache),
+    )
     @triton.jit
     def _kernel(dst, src, stride_m: tl.constexpr, M, BLOCK_SIZE_N: tl.constexpr, BLOCK_SIZE_M: tl.constexpr):
         offsets_m = tl.program_id(0) * stride_m + tl.arange(0, BLOCK_SIZE_M)
diff --git a/python/triton/testing.py b/python/triton/testing.py
index 1fd88c648779..a009d8c70793 100644
--- a/python/triton/testing.py
+++ b/python/triton/testing.py
@@ -57,7 +57,14 @@ def _summarize_statistics(times, quantiles, return_mode):
         return statistics.median(times)
 
 
-def do_bench_cudagraph(fn, rep=20, grad_to_none=None, quantiles=None, return_mode="mean"):
+def do_bench_cudagraph(
+    fn,
+    rep=20,
+    grad_to_none=None,
+    quantiles=None,
+    return_mode="mean",
+    clear_cache=False,
+):
     """
     Benchmark the runtime of the provided function.
 
@@ -69,12 +76,22 @@ def do_bench_cudagraph(fn, rep=20, grad_to_none=None, quantiles=None, return_mod
     :type grad_to_none: torch.tensor, optional
     :param return_mode: The statistical measure to return. Options are "min", "max", "mean", "median", or "all". Default is "mean".
     :type return_mode: str
+    :param clear_cache: If True, zero the benchmarking cache tensor before each
+        invocation of `fn` to mimic the behaviour of `do_bench` with explicit L2
+        cache flushes. Default is False.
     """
     import torch
     assert return_mode in ["min", "max", "mean", "median", "all"]
 
+    cache = (runtime.driver.active.get_empty_cache_for_benchmark() if clear_cache else None)
+
+    def maybe_clear_cache():
+        if cache is not None:
+            cache.zero_()
+
     with torch.cuda.stream(torch.cuda.Stream()):
         # warmup
+        maybe_clear_cache()
         fn()
         if grad_to_none is not None:
             for x in grad_to_none:
@@ -91,6 +108,7 @@ def do_bench_cudagraph(fn, rep=20, grad_to_none=None, quantiles=None, return_mod
         end_event = torch.cuda.Event(enable_timing=True)
         start_event.record()
         for _ in range(5):
+            maybe_clear_cache()
             fn()
         end_event.record()
         torch.cuda.synchronize()
@@ -108,6 +126,7 @@ def do_bench_cudagraph(fn, rep=20, grad_to_none=None, quantiles=None, return_mod
                 if grad_to_none is not None:
                     for x in grad_to_none:
                         x.grad = None
+                maybe_clear_cache()
                 fn()
         torch.cuda.synchronize()
         # measure time and return