diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index 0e506a4954c..cc4e49a6675 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@ Release 2.1.1-beta - UNRELEASED
     MAPREDUCE-5352. Optimize node local splits generated by
     CombineFileInputFormat. (sseth)
 
+    MAPREDUCE-5446. TestJobHistoryEvents and TestJobHistoryParsing have race
+    conditions (jlowe via kihwal)
+
   BUG FIXES
 
     MAPREDUCE-5385. Fixed a bug with JobContext getCacheFiles API. (Omkar Vinit
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/MRApp.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/MRApp.java
index 7073ba4844e..6d1804f0627 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/MRApp.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/app/MRApp.java
@@ -357,15 +357,20 @@ public class MRApp extends MRAppMaster {
   }
 
   public void waitForState(Service.STATE finalState) throws Exception {
-    int timeoutSecs = 0;
-    while (!finalState.equals(getServiceState()) && timeoutSecs++ < 20) {
-      System.out.println("MRApp State is : " + getServiceState()
-          + " Waiting for state : " + finalState);
-      Thread.sleep(500);
+    if (finalState == Service.STATE.STOPPED) {
+       Assert.assertTrue("Timeout while waiting for MRApp to stop",
+           waitForServiceToStop(20 * 1000));
+    } else {
+      int timeoutSecs = 0;
+      while (!finalState.equals(getServiceState()) && timeoutSecs++ < 20) {
+        System.out.println("MRApp State is : " + getServiceState()
+            + " Waiting for state : " + finalState);
+        Thread.sleep(500);
+      }
+      System.out.println("MRApp State is : " + getServiceState());
+      Assert.assertEquals("MRApp state is not correct (timedout)", finalState,
+          getServiceState());
     }
-    System.out.println("MRApp State is : " + getServiceState());
-    Assert.assertEquals("MRApp state is not correct (timedout)", finalState,
-        getServiceState());
   }
 
   public void verifyCompleted() {