diff --git a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/roachtestutil/mixedversion/runner.go b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/roachtestutil/mixedversion/runner.go
index c29c3c8e99b6..5a5af126494f 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/roachtestutil/mixedversion/runner.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/roachtestutil/mixedversion/runner.go
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ func (tr *testRunner) run() (retErr error) {
 			if event.Err == nil {
 				tr.logger.Printf("background step finished: %s", event.Name)
 				continue
-			} else if event.ExpectedCancel {
+			} else if event.TriggeredByTest {
 				tr.logger.Printf("background step canceled by test: %s", event.Name)
 				continue
 			}
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/roachtestutil/task/manager.go b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/roachtestutil/task/manager.go
index d15d783d5e37..de4bbd0e3c37 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/roachtestutil/task/manager.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/roachtestutil/task/manager.go
@@ -28,9 +28,9 @@ type (
 
 	// Event represents the result of a task execution.
 	Event struct {
-		Name           string
-		Err            error
-		ExpectedCancel bool
+		Name            string
+		Err             error
+		TriggeredByTest bool
 	}
 
 	manager struct {
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ func NewManager(ctx context.Context, l *logger.Logger) Manager {
 func (m *manager) defaultOptions() []Option {
 	// The default panic handler simply returns the panic as an error.
 	defaultPanicHandlerFn := func(_ context.Context, name string, l *logger.Logger, r interface{}) error {
-		return r.(error)
+		return fmt.Errorf("panic: %v", r)
 	}
 	// The default error handler simply returns the error as is.
 	defaultErrorHandlerFn := func(_ context.Context, name string, l *logger.Logger, err error) error {
@@ -98,17 +98,26 @@ func (m *manager) GoWithCancel(fn Func, opts ...Option) context.CancelFunc {
 		}
 		err = internalFunc(l)
 		event := Event{
-			Name:           opt.Name,
-			Err:            err,
-			ExpectedCancel: err != nil && IsContextCanceled(groupCtx) && expectedContextCancellation.Load(),
+			Name: opt.Name,
+			Err:  err,
+			// TriggeredByTest is set to true if the task was canceled intentionally,
+			// by the test, and we encounter an error. The assumption is that we
+			// expect the error to have been caused by the cancelation, hence the
+			// error above was not caused by a failure. This ensures we don't register
+			// a test failure if the task was meant to be canceled. It's possible that
+			// `expectedContextCancellation` could be set before the context is
+			// canceled, thus we also ensure that the context is canceled.
+			TriggeredByTest: err != nil && IsContextCanceled(groupCtx) && expectedContextCancellation.Load(),
 		}
-		select {
-		case m.events <- event:
-			// exit goroutine
-		case <-m.ctx.Done():
-			// Parent context already finished, exit goroutine.
+
+		// Do not send the event if the parent context is canceled. The test is
+		// already aware of the cancelation and sending an event would be redundant.
+		// For instance, a call to test.Fatal would already have captured the error
+		// and canceled the context.
+		if IsContextCanceled(m.ctx) {
 			return nil
 		}
+		m.events <- event
 		return err
 	})
 
@@ -129,7 +138,9 @@ func (m *manager) Go(fn Func, opts ...Option) {
 }
 
 // Terminate will call the stop functions for every task started during the
-// test. Returns when all task functions have returned.
+// test. Returns when all task functions have returned, or after a 5-minute
+// timeout, whichever comes first. If the timeout is reached, the function logs
+// a warning message and returns.
 func (m *manager) Terminate(l *logger.Logger) {
 	func() {
 		m.mu.Lock()
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/test_impl.go b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/test_impl.go
index 0fade5bfa0d0..a58d4b726778 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/test_impl.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/test_impl.go
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import (
 	"math/rand"
 	"os"
 	"regexp"
-	"runtime/debug"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
@@ -654,8 +653,7 @@ func (t *testImpl) IsBuildVersion(minVersion string) bool {
 }
 
 func panicHandler(_ context.Context, name string, l *logger.Logger, r interface{}) error {
-	l.Printf("panic stack trace in task %s:\n%s", name, string(debug.Stack()))
-	return fmt.Errorf("panic (stack trace above): %v", r)
+	return fmt.Errorf("test task %s panicked: %v", name, r)
 }
 
 // GoWithCancel runs the given function in a goroutine and returns a
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/test_runner.go b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/test_runner.go
index 69d43859c58a..a8bf62bf5b57 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/test_runner.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/test_runner.go
@@ -1299,7 +1299,7 @@ func (r *testRunner) runTest(
 				if event.Err == nil {
 					t.L().Printf("task finished: %s", event.Name)
 					continue
-				} else if event.ExpectedCancel {
+				} else if event.TriggeredByTest {
 					t.L().Printf("task canceled by test: %s", event.Name)
 					continue
 				}