diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/test/integration/change_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/test/integration/change_test.go
index b0ddb00da21..59811f57c24 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/test/integration/change_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/test/integration/change_test.go
@@ -59,9 +59,74 @@ func TestChangeCRD(t *testing.T) {
 	ns := "default"
 	noxuNamespacedResourceClient := newNamespacedCustomResourceVersionedClient(ns, dynamicClient, noxuDefinition, "v1beta1")
 
-	stopChan := make(chan struct{})
+	updateCRD := func() {
+		noxuDefinitionToUpdate, err := apiExtensionsClient.ApiextensionsV1().CustomResourceDefinitions().Get(context.TODO(), noxuDefinition.Name, metav1.GetOptions{})
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Error(err)
+			return
+		}
+		if len(noxuDefinitionToUpdate.Spec.Versions) == 1 {
+			v2 := noxuDefinitionToUpdate.Spec.Versions[0]
+			v2.Name = "v2"
+			v2.Served = true
+			v2.Storage = false
+			noxuDefinitionToUpdate.Spec.Versions = append(noxuDefinitionToUpdate.Spec.Versions, v2)
+		} else {
+			noxuDefinitionToUpdate.Spec.Versions = noxuDefinitionToUpdate.Spec.Versions[0:1]
+		}
+		if _, err := apiExtensionsClient.ApiextensionsV1().CustomResourceDefinitions().Update(context.TODO(), noxuDefinitionToUpdate, metav1.UpdateOptions{}); err != nil && !apierrors.IsConflict(err) {
+			t.Error(err)
+		}
+	}
 
+	// Set up 10 watchers for custom resource.
+	// We can't exercise them in a loop the same way as get requests, as watchcache
+	// can reject them with 429 and Retry-After: 1 if it is uninitialized and even
+	// though 429 is automatically retried, with frequent watchcache terminations and
+	// reinitializations they could either end-up being rejected N times and fail or
+	// or not initialize until the last watchcache reinitialization and then not be
+	// terminated. Thus we exercise their termination explicitly at the beginning.
 	wg := &sync.WaitGroup{}
+	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
+		wg.Add(1)
+		go func(i int) {
+			defer wg.Done()
+
+			w, err := noxuNamespacedResourceClient.Watch(context.TODO(), metav1.ListOptions{})
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Errorf("unexpected error establishing watch: %v", err)
+				return
+			}
+			for event := range w.ResultChan() {
+				switch event.Type {
+				case watch.Added, watch.Modified, watch.Deleted:
+					// all expected
+				default:
+					t.Errorf("unexpected watch event: %#v", event)
+				}
+			}
+		}(i)
+	}
+
+	// Let all the established watches soak request loops soak
+	time.Sleep(5 * time.Second)
+
+	// Update CRD and ensure that all watches are gracefully terminated.
+	updateCRD()
+
+	drained := make(chan struct{})
+	go func() {
+		defer close(drained)
+		wg.Wait()
+	}()
+
+	select {
+	case <-drained:
+	case <-time.After(wait.ForeverTestTimeout):
+		t.Fatal("timed out waiting for watchers to be terminated")
+	}
+
+	stopChan := make(chan struct{})
 
 	// Set up loop to modify CRD in the background
 	wg.Add(1)
@@ -76,28 +141,11 @@ func TestChangeCRD(t *testing.T) {
 
 			time.Sleep(10 * time.Millisecond)
 
-			noxuDefinitionToUpdate, err := apiExtensionsClient.ApiextensionsV1().CustomResourceDefinitions().Get(context.TODO(), noxuDefinition.Name, metav1.GetOptions{})
-			if err != nil {
-				t.Error(err)
-				continue
-			}
-			if len(noxuDefinitionToUpdate.Spec.Versions) == 1 {
-				v2 := noxuDefinitionToUpdate.Spec.Versions[0]
-				v2.Name = "v2"
-				v2.Served = true
-				v2.Storage = false
-				noxuDefinitionToUpdate.Spec.Versions = append(noxuDefinitionToUpdate.Spec.Versions, v2)
-			} else {
-				noxuDefinitionToUpdate.Spec.Versions = noxuDefinitionToUpdate.Spec.Versions[0:1]
-			}
-			if _, err := apiExtensionsClient.ApiextensionsV1().CustomResourceDefinitions().Update(context.TODO(), noxuDefinitionToUpdate, metav1.UpdateOptions{}); err != nil && !apierrors.IsConflict(err) {
-				t.Error(err)
-				continue
-			}
+			updateCRD()
 		}
 	}()
 
-	// Set up 10 loops creating and reading and watching custom resources
+	// Set up 10 loops creating and reading custom resources
 	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
 		wg.Add(1)
 		go func(i int) {
@@ -120,32 +168,6 @@ func TestChangeCRD(t *testing.T) {
 				}
 			}
 		}(i)
-
-		wg.Add(1)
-		go func(i int) {
-			defer wg.Done()
-			for {
-				time.Sleep(10 * time.Millisecond)
-				select {
-				case <-stopChan:
-					return
-				default:
-					w, err := noxuNamespacedResourceClient.Watch(context.TODO(), metav1.ListOptions{})
-					if err != nil {
-						t.Errorf("unexpected error establishing watch: %v", err)
-						continue
-					}
-					for event := range w.ResultChan() {
-						switch event.Type {
-						case watch.Added, watch.Modified, watch.Deleted:
-							// all expected
-						default:
-							t.Errorf("unexpected watch event: %#v", event)
-						}
-					}
-				}
-			}
-		}(i)
 	}
 
 	// Let all the established get request loops soak
@@ -155,7 +177,7 @@ func TestChangeCRD(t *testing.T) {
 	close(stopChan)
 
 	// Let loops drain
-	drained := make(chan struct{})
+	drained = make(chan struct{})
 	go func() {
 		defer close(drained)
 		wg.Wait()
@@ -164,6 +186,6 @@ func TestChangeCRD(t *testing.T) {
 	select {
 	case <-drained:
 	case <-time.After(wait.ForeverTestTimeout):
-		t.Error("timed out waiting for clients to complete")
+		t.Fatal("timed out waiting for clients to complete")
 	}
 }