diff --git a/client/allocrunner/alloc_runner.go b/client/allocrunner/alloc_runner.go
index 1f93f2070b25..9a8c0824b2cf 100644
--- a/client/allocrunner/alloc_runner.go
+++ b/client/allocrunner/alloc_runner.go
@@ -763,14 +763,15 @@ func (ar *allocRunner) destroyImpl() {
 	// state if Run() ran at all.
 	<-ar.taskStateUpdateHandlerCh
 
-	// Cleanup state db
+	// Mark alloc as destroyed
+	ar.destroyedLock.Lock()
+
+	// Cleanup state db; while holding the lock to avoid
+	// a race periodic PersistState that may resurrect the alloc
 	if err := ar.stateDB.DeleteAllocationBucket(ar.id); err != nil {
 		ar.logger.Warn("failed to delete allocation state", "error", err)
 	}
 
-	// Mark alloc as destroyed
-	ar.destroyedLock.Lock()
-
 	if !ar.shutdown {
 		ar.shutdown = true
 		close(ar.shutdownCh)
@@ -782,6 +783,24 @@ func (ar *allocRunner) destroyImpl() {
 	ar.destroyedLock.Unlock()
 }
 
+func (ar *allocRunner) PersistState() error {
+	ar.destroyedLock.Lock()
+	defer ar.destroyedLock.Unlock()
+
+	if ar.destroyed {
+		err := ar.stateDB.DeleteAllocationBucket(ar.id)
+		if err != nil {
+			ar.logger.Warn("failed to delete allocation bucket", "error", err)
+		}
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	// TODO: consider persisting deployment state along with task status.
+	// While we study why only the alloc is persisted, I opted to maintain current
+	// behavior and not risk adding yet more IO calls unnecessarily.
+	return ar.stateDB.PutAllocation(ar.Alloc())
+}
+
 // Destroy the alloc runner by stopping it if it is still running and cleaning
 // up all of its resources.
 //
diff --git a/client/client.go b/client/client.go
index 71bf7817834e..a91092dc915a 100644
--- a/client/client.go
+++ b/client/client.go
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ type AllocRunner interface {
 	ShutdownCh() <-chan struct{}
 	Signal(taskName, signal string) error
 	GetTaskEventHandler(taskName string) drivermanager.EventHandler
+	PersistState() error
 
 	RestartTask(taskName string, taskEvent *structs.TaskEvent) error
 	RestartAll(taskEvent *structs.TaskEvent) error
@@ -1121,7 +1122,7 @@ func (c *Client) saveState() error {
 
 	for id, ar := range runners {
 		go func(id string, ar AllocRunner) {
-			err := c.stateDB.PutAllocation(ar.Alloc())
+			err := ar.PersistState()
 			if err != nil {
 				c.logger.Error("error saving alloc state", "error", err, "alloc_id", id)
 				l.Lock()