diff --git a/tests/zfs-tests/tests/functional/cli_user/zpool_iostat/zpool_iostat_002_pos.ksh b/tests/zfs-tests/tests/functional/cli_user/zpool_iostat/zpool_iostat_002_pos.ksh
index a2b3464b2bf..b1c12f1306a 100755
--- a/tests/zfs-tests/tests/functional/cli_user/zpool_iostat/zpool_iostat_002_pos.ksh
+++ b/tests/zfs-tests/tests/functional/cli_user/zpool_iostat/zpool_iostat_002_pos.ksh
@@ -38,9 +38,8 @@
 #
 # STRATEGY:
 # 1. Set the interval to 1 and count to 4.
-# 2. Sleep for 5 seconds.
-# 3. Verify that the output has 4 records.
-# 4. Set interval to 0.5 and count to 1 to test floating point intervals.
+# 2. Verify that the output has 4 records.
+# 3. Set interval to 0.5 and count to 1 to test floating point intervals.
 
 verify_runnable "both"
 
@@ -61,8 +60,7 @@ if ! is_global_zone ; then
 	TESTPOOL=${TESTPOOL%%/*}
 fi
 
-log_must eval "zpool iostat $TESTPOOL 1 4 > $tmpfile 2>&1 &"
-log_must sleep 5
+log_must eval "zpool iostat $TESTPOOL 1 4 > $tmpfile 2>&1"
 stat_count=$(grep -c $TESTPOOL $tmpfile)
 
 if [[ $stat_count -ne 4 ]]; then