diff --git a/python/ray/_private/gcs_pubsub.py b/python/ray/_private/gcs_pubsub.py
index 669e7568e67b..da10ee7539f7 100644
--- a/python/ray/_private/gcs_pubsub.py
+++ b/python/ray/_private/gcs_pubsub.py
@@ -505,13 +505,17 @@ async def _poll_call(self, req, timeout=None):
     async def _poll(self, timeout=None) -> None:
         req = self._poll_request()
         while len(self._queue) == 0:
-            # TODO: use asyncio.create_task() after Python 3.6 is no longer
-            # supported.
-            poll = asyncio.ensure_future(self._poll_call(req, timeout=timeout))
-            close = asyncio.ensure_future(self._close.wait())
-            done, _ = await asyncio.wait(
+            poll = asyncio.get_event_loop().create_task(
+                self._poll_call(req, timeout=timeout)
+            )
+            close = asyncio.get_event_loop().create_task(self._close.wait())
+            done, others = await asyncio.wait(
                 [poll, close], timeout=timeout, return_when=asyncio.FIRST_COMPLETED
             )
+            # Cancel the other task if needed to prevent memory leak.
+            other_task = others.pop()
+            if not other_task.done():
+                other_task.cancel()
             if poll not in done or close in done:
                 # Request timed out or subscriber closed.
                 break
diff --git a/python/ray/tests/test_gcs_pubsub.py b/python/ray/tests/test_gcs_pubsub.py
index 936ae4e04c2f..ae342050148b 100644
--- a/python/ray/tests/test_gcs_pubsub.py
+++ b/python/ray/tests/test_gcs_pubsub.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import asyncio
 import sys
 import threading
 
@@ -140,6 +141,23 @@ async def test_aio_publish_and_subscribe_resource_usage(ray_start_regular):
     await subscriber.close()
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_aio_poll_no_leaks(ray_start_regular):
+    """Test that polling doesn't leak memory."""
+    ctx = ray_start_regular
+    gcs_server_addr = ctx.address_info["gcs_address"]
+
+    subscriber = GcsAioResourceUsageSubscriber(address=gcs_server_addr)
+    await subscriber.subscribe()
+
+    for _ in range(10000):
+        subscriber.poll()
+        # There should only be 1 task, but use 10 as a buffer.
+        assert len(asyncio.all_tasks()) < 10
+
+    await subscriber.close()
+
+
 def test_two_subscribers(ray_start_regular):
     """Tests concurrently subscribing to two channels work."""
 
diff --git a/release/long_running_tests/tpl_cpu_1_c5.yaml b/release/long_running_tests/tpl_cpu_1_c5.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1792ac27da21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release/long_running_tests/tpl_cpu_1_c5.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+cloud_id: {{env["ANYSCALE_CLOUD_ID"]}}
+region: us-west-2
+
+max_workers: 0
+
+head_node_type:
+    name: head_node
+    instance_type: c5.2xlarge
+
+worker_node_types:
+    - name: worker_node
+      instance_type: c5.2xlarge
+      min_workers: 0
+      max_workers: 0
+      use_spot: false
+
+aws:
+  TagSpecifications:
+    - ResourceType: "instance"
+      Tags:
+        - Key: anyscale-user
+          Value: '{{env["ANYSCALE_USER"]}}'
+        - Key: anyscale-expiration
+          Value: '{{env["EXPIRATION_2D"]}}'
+
+  BlockDeviceMappings:
+    - DeviceName: /dev/sda1
+      Ebs:
+        VolumeSize: 300
+        DeleteOnTermination: true
diff --git a/release/long_running_tests/workloads/serve.py b/release/long_running_tests/workloads/serve.py
index 936a7fa327aa..2372242ba81f 100644
--- a/release/long_running_tests/workloads/serve.py
+++ b/release/long_running_tests/workloads/serve.py
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ def update_progress(result):
     cluster.add_node(
         redis_port=6379 if i == 0 else None,
         num_redis_shards=NUM_REDIS_SHARDS if i == 0 else None,
+        dashboard_agent_listen_port=(52365 + i),
         num_cpus=8,
         num_gpus=0,
         resources={str(i): 2},
@@ -56,7 +57,7 @@ def update_progress(result):
         dashboard_host="0.0.0.0",
     )
 
-ray.init(address=cluster.address, dashboard_host="0.0.0.0")
+ray.init(address=cluster.address, log_to_driver=False, dashboard_host="0.0.0.0")
 serve.start()
 
 
@@ -101,7 +102,15 @@ async def __call__(self, request):
     )
     proc.wait()
     out, err = proc.communicate()
-
+    # Check if wrk command succeeded. If this happens repeatedly, the release test
+    # infrastructure will correctly fail the test with "Last update to results json
+    # was too long ago."
+    if proc.returncode != 0:
+        print("wrk failed with the following error: ")
+        print(err)
+        print("Will try again in 5 seconds")
+        time.sleep(5)
+        continue
     # Sample wrk stdout:
     #
     # Running 10s test @ http://127.0.0.1:8000/echo
diff --git a/release/release_tests.yaml b/release/release_tests.yaml
index 9ea369bad4f2..45e835d8a4e5 100644
--- a/release/release_tests.yaml
+++ b/release/release_tests.yaml
@@ -2090,7 +2090,7 @@
   team: serve
   cluster:
     cluster_env: app_config.yaml
-    cluster_compute: tpl_cpu_1.yaml
+    cluster_compute: tpl_cpu_1_c5.yaml
 
   run:
     timeout: 86400