diff --git a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-pubsub/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/pubsub/v1/OpenCensusUtilTest.java b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-pubsub/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/pubsub/v1/OpenCensusUtilTest.java
index 6f74d5917c76..329cf60288cc 100644
--- a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-pubsub/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/pubsub/v1/OpenCensusUtilTest.java
+++ b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-pubsub/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/pubsub/v1/OpenCensusUtilTest.java
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@
 import static com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.OpenCensusUtil.TRACE_CONTEXT_KEY;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
+import com.google.common.base.Stopwatch;
 import com.google.protobuf.ByteString;
 import com.google.pubsub.v1.PubsubMessage;
 import io.opencensus.common.Scope;
@@ -40,6 +42,7 @@
 import io.opencensus.trace.export.SpanData;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 /** Tests for {@link OpenCensusUtil}. */
@@ -123,8 +126,8 @@ private TestMessageReceiver(SpanContext parentLinkedSpan, TagContext originalTag
     @Override
     public void receiveMessage(PubsubMessage message, AckReplyConsumer consumer) {
       assertEquals(originalTagContext, tagger.getCurrentTagContext());
+      assertSpanCount(1);
       Collection<SpanData> spanDatas = runningSpanStore.getRunningSpans(RECEIVER_FILTER);
-      assertEquals(spanDatas.size(), 1);
       for (SpanData spanData : spanDatas) {
         List<Link> links = spanData.getLinks().getLinks();
         assertEquals(links.size(), 1);
@@ -135,5 +138,19 @@ public void receiveMessage(PubsubMessage message, AckReplyConsumer consumer) {
       }
       consumer.ack();
     }
+
+    private void assertSpanCount(int expected) {
+      Stopwatch watch = Stopwatch.createStarted();
+      while (true) {
+        Collection<SpanData> spanDatas = runningSpanStore.getRunningSpans(RECEIVER_FILTER);
+        if (spanDatas.size() == 1) {
+          break;
+        }
+        Thread.yield();
+        if (watch.elapsed(TimeUnit.SECONDS) >= 5) {
+          fail();
+        }
+      }
+    }
   }
 }