diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/TestResourceTrackerService.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/TestResourceTrackerService.java
index 33d5003d7e1..6a8806572cc 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/TestResourceTrackerService.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/TestResourceTrackerService.java
@@ -56,13 +56,16 @@ import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentMap;
 import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
+import java.util.function.Supplier;
 import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory;
 import javax.xml.transform.Transformer;
 import javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory;
@@ -2345,8 +2348,7 @@ public class TestResourceTrackerService extends NodeLabelTestBase {
     }
 
     //Test decommed/ing node that transitions to untracked,timer should remove
-    testNodeRemovalUtilDecomToUntracked(rmContext, conf, nm1, nm2, nm3,
-        maxThreadSleeptime, doGraceful);
+    testNodeRemovalUtilDecomToUntracked(rmContext, conf, nm1, nm2, nm3, doGraceful);
     rm.stop();
   }
 
@@ -2354,41 +2356,41 @@ public class TestResourceTrackerService extends NodeLabelTestBase {
   // max allowed length.
   private void testNodeRemovalUtilDecomToUntracked(
       RMContext rmContext, Configuration conf,
-      MockNM nm1, MockNM nm2, MockNM nm3,
-      long maxThreadSleeptime, boolean doGraceful) throws Exception {
+      MockNM nm1, MockNM nm2, MockNM nm3, boolean doGraceful
+  ) throws Exception {
     ClusterMetrics metrics = ClusterMetrics.getMetrics();
     String ip = NetUtils.normalizeHostName("localhost");
-    CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
     writeToHostsFile("host1", ip, "host2");
     writeToHostsFile(excludeHostFile, "host2");
     refreshNodesOption(doGraceful, conf);
     nm1.nodeHeartbeat(true);
     //nm2.nodeHeartbeat(true);
     nm3.nodeHeartbeat(true);
-    latch.await(maxThreadSleeptime, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
-    RMNode rmNode = doGraceful ? rmContext.getRMNodes().get(nm2.getNodeId()) :
-             rmContext.getInactiveRMNodes().get(nm2.getNodeId());
-    Assert.assertNotEquals("Timer for this node was not canceled!",
-        rmNode, null);
-    Assert.assertTrue("Node should be DECOMMISSIONED or DECOMMISSIONING",
-        (rmNode.getState() == NodeState.DECOMMISSIONED) ||
-            (rmNode.getState() == NodeState.DECOMMISSIONING));
+    Supplier<RMNode> nodeSupplier = doGraceful
+        ? () -> rmContext.getRMNodes().get(nm2.getNodeId())
+        : () -> rmContext.getInactiveRMNodes().get(nm2.getNodeId());
+    pollingAssert(() -> nodeSupplier.get() != null,
+        "Timer for this node was not canceled!");
+    final List<NodeState> expectedStates = Arrays.asList(
+        NodeState.DECOMMISSIONED,
+        NodeState.DECOMMISSIONING
+    );
+    pollingAssert(() -> expectedStates.contains(nodeSupplier.get().getState()),
+        "Node should be in one of these states: " + expectedStates);
+
 
     writeToHostsFile("host1", ip);
     writeToHostsFile(excludeHostFile, "");
     refreshNodesOption(doGraceful, conf);
     nm2.nodeHeartbeat(true);
-    latch.await(maxThreadSleeptime, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
-    rmNode = doGraceful ? rmContext.getRMNodes().get(nm2.getNodeId()) :
-             rmContext.getInactiveRMNodes().get(nm2.getNodeId());
-    Assert.assertEquals("Node should have been forgotten!",
-        rmNode, null);
-    Assert.assertEquals("Shutdown nodes should be 0 now",
-        metrics.getNumDecommisionedNMs(), 0);
-    Assert.assertEquals("Shutdown nodes should be 0 now",
-        metrics.getNumShutdownNMs(), 0);
-    Assert.assertEquals("Active nodes should be 2",
-        metrics.getNumActiveNMs(), 2);
+    pollingAssert(() -> nodeSupplier.get() == null,
+        "Node should have been forgotten!");
+    pollingAssert(metrics::getNumDecommisionedNMs, 0,
+        "metrics#getNumDecommisionedNMs should be 0 now");
+    pollingAssert(metrics::getNumShutdownNMs, 0,
+        "metrics#getNumShutdownNMs should be 0 now");
+    pollingAssert(metrics::getNumActiveNMs, 2,
+        "metrics#getNumActiveNMs should be 2 now");
   }
 
   private void testNodeRemovalUtilLost(boolean doGraceful) throws Exception {
@@ -2959,6 +2961,18 @@ public class TestResourceTrackerService extends NodeLabelTestBase {
     mockRM.stop();
   }
 
+  private void pollingAssert(Supplier<Boolean> supplier, String message)
+      throws InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
+    GenericTestUtils.waitFor(supplier,
+        100, 10_000, message);
+  }
+
+  private <T> void pollingAssert(Supplier<T> supplier, T expected, String message)
+      throws InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
+    GenericTestUtils.waitFor(() -> Objects.equals(supplier.get(), expected),
+        100, 10_000, message);
+  }
+
   /**
    * A no-op implementation of NodeAttributeStore for testing
    */