diff --git a/roofit/roofitcore/src/TestStatistics/ConstantTermsOptimizer.cxx b/roofit/roofitcore/src/TestStatistics/ConstantTermsOptimizer.cxx
index 51a341084c80e..926c39c94743f 100644
--- a/roofit/roofitcore/src/TestStatistics/ConstantTermsOptimizer.cxx
+++ b/roofit/roofitcore/src/TestStatistics/ConstantTermsOptimizer.cxx
@@ -155,14 +155,12 @@ void ConstantTermsOptimizer::optimizeCaching(RooAbsReal *function, RooArgSet *no
    function->getVal(norm_set);
 
    // Set value caching mode for all nodes that depend on any of the observables to ADirty
-   bool delete_observables = false;
+   std::unique_ptr<RooArgSet> ownedObservables;
    if (observables == nullptr) {
-      observables = function->getObservables(dataset);
-      delete_observables = true;
+      ownedObservables = std::unique_ptr<RooArgSet>{function->getObservables(dataset)};
+      observables = ownedObservables.get();
    }
    function->optimizeCacheMode(*observables);
-   if (delete_observables)
-      delete observables;
 
    // Disable propagation of dirty state flags for observables
    dataset->setDirtyProp(false);
diff --git a/roofit/roofitcore/test/TestStatistics/testRooAbsL.cxx b/roofit/roofitcore/test/TestStatistics/testRooAbsL.cxx
index f5aeb9e684284..871e232d2368d 100644
--- a/roofit/roofitcore/test/TestStatistics/testRooAbsL.cxx
+++ b/roofit/roofitcore/test/TestStatistics/testRooAbsL.cxx
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ TEST_F(BinnedDatasetTest, VSRooNLLVar)
 {
    // compare the value of the likelihood to that generated by a similarly configured RooNLLVar
    pdf->setAttribute("BinnedLikelihood");
-   data.reset(pdf->generateBinned(*w.var("x")));
+   data = std::unique_ptr<RooAbsData>{pdf->generateBinned(*w.var("x"))};
    likelihood = RooFit::TestStatistics::buildLikelihood(pdf, data.get());
 
    // manually create NLL, ripping all relevant parts from RooAbsPdf::createNLL, except here we also set binnedL = true;
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ TEST_F(BinnedDatasetTest, VSRooNLLVar)
    nll_config.cloneInputData = false;
    nll_config.binnedL = true;
    int extended = 2;
-   nll.reset(new RooNLLVar("nlletje", "-log(likelihood)", *pdf, *data, projDeps, extended, nll_config));
+   nll = std::make_unique<RooNLLVar>("nlletje", "-log(likelihood)", *pdf, *data, projDeps, extended, nll_config);
 
    auto AbsL_value = likelihood->evaluatePartition({0, 1}, 0, likelihood->getNComponents());
    auto RooNLL_value = nll->getVal();
@@ -358,15 +358,15 @@ TEST_F(BinnedDatasetTest, VSRooNLLVar)
 
 TEST_F(SimBinnedConstrainedTest, VSRooNLLVar)
 {
+   RooArgSet globalObservables{*w.var("alpha_bkg_obs_A"), *w.var("alpha_bkg_obs_B")};
+
    // compare the value of the likelihood to that generated by a similarly configured RooNLLVar
-   likelihood = RooFit::TestStatistics::NLLFactory(*pdf, *data)
-                   .GlobalObservables({*w.var("alpha_bkg_obs_A"), *w.var("alpha_bkg_obs_B")})
-                   .build();
-   nll.reset(pdf->createNLL(*data, RooFit::GlobalObservables(*w.var("alpha_bkg_obs_A"), *w.var("alpha_bkg_obs_B"))));
+   likelihood = RooFit::TestStatistics::NLLFactory(*pdf, *data).GlobalObservables(globalObservables).build();
+   nll = std::unique_ptr<RooAbsReal>{pdf->createNLL(*data, RooFit::GlobalObservables(globalObservables))};
 
    auto AbsL_value = likelihood->evaluatePartition({0, 1}, 0, likelihood->getNComponents());
    auto RooNLL_value = nll->getVal();
    EXPECT_EQ(AbsL_value.Sum(), RooNLL_value);
 }
 
-// TODO: add tests covering all constOptimizeTestStatistic opcode cases.
\ No newline at end of file
+// TODO: add tests covering all constOptimizeTestStatistic opcode cases.