diff --git a/src/test/regress/after_pg_upgrade_schedule b/src/test/regress/after_pg_upgrade_schedule
index 6b8c3973f..d02289510 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/after_pg_upgrade_schedule
+++ b/src/test/regress/after_pg_upgrade_schedule
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
-test: upgrade_basic_after upgrade_type_after upgrade_ref2ref_after upgrade_distributed_function_after upgrade_rebalance_strategy_after upgrade_list_citus_objects upgrade_autoconverted_after upgrade_citus_stat_activity upgrade_citus_locks upgrade_distributed_triggers_after
+test: upgrade_basic_after upgrade_ref2ref_after upgrade_type_after upgrade_distributed_function_after upgrade_rebalance_strategy_after upgrade_list_citus_objects upgrade_autoconverted_after upgrade_citus_stat_activity upgrade_citus_locks
+
+# This test cannot be run with run_test.py currently due to its dependence on
+# the specific PG versions that we use to run upgrade tests. For now we leave
+# it out of the parallel line, so that flaky test detection can at least work
+# for the other tests.
+test: upgrade_distributed_triggers_after
 
 # This attempts dropping citus extension (and rollbacks), so please do
 # not run in parallel with any other tests.
diff --git a/src/test/regress/citus_tests/run_test.py b/src/test/regress/citus_tests/run_test.py
index ca969b9c1..fceadb3c0 100755
--- a/src/test/regress/citus_tests/run_test.py
+++ b/src/test/regress/citus_tests/run_test.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ from typing import Optional
 import common
 from common import REGRESS_DIR, capture, run
 
-from config import ARBITRARY_SCHEDULE_NAMES, MASTER_VERSION, CitusDefaultClusterConfig
+from config import ARBITRARY_SCHEDULE_NAMES, MASTER_VERSION, CitusBaseClusterConfig
 
 
 def main():
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ def run_schedule_with_python(schedule):
         "--bindir": bindir,
     }
 
-    config = CitusDefaultClusterConfig(args)
+    config = CitusBaseClusterConfig(args)
     common.initialize_temp_dir(config.temp_dir)
     common.initialize_citus_cluster(
         config.bindir, config.datadir, config.settings, config
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ def default_base_schedule(test_schedule, args):
         return None
 
     if "pg_upgrade" in test_schedule:
-        return "minimal_schedule"
+        return "minimal_pg_upgrade_schedule"
 
     if test_schedule in ARBITRARY_SCHEDULE_NAMES:
         print(f"WARNING: Arbitrary config schedule ({test_schedule}) is not supported.")
@@ -301,9 +301,21 @@ def test_dependencies(test_name, test_schedule, schedule_line, args):
 
     if schedule_line_is_upgrade_after(schedule_line):
         # upgrade_xxx_after tests always depend on upgrade_xxx_before
+        test_names = schedule_line.split()[1:]
+        before_tests = []
+        # _after tests have implicit dependencies on _before tests
+        for test_name in test_names:
+            if "_after" in test_name:
+                before_tests.append(test_name.replace("_after", "_before"))
+
+        # the upgrade_columnar_before renames the schema, on which other
+        # "after" tests depend. So we make sure to execute it always.
+        if "upgrade_columnar_before" not in before_tests:
+            before_tests.append("upgrade_columnar_before")
+
         return TestDeps(
             default_base_schedule(test_schedule, args),
-            [test_name.replace("_after", "_before")],
+            before_tests,
         )
 
     # before_ tests leave stuff around on purpose for the after tests. So they
diff --git a/src/test/regress/expected/upgrade_basic_after.out b/src/test/regress/expected/upgrade_basic_after.out
index ff118c593..e724b81d3 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/expected/upgrade_basic_after.out
+++ b/src/test/regress/expected/upgrade_basic_after.out
@@ -9,31 +9,31 @@ SELECT * FROM pg_indexes WHERE schemaname = 'upgrade_basic' and tablename NOT LI
  upgrade_basic | tp        | tp_pkey   |            | CREATE UNIQUE INDEX tp_pkey ON upgrade_basic.tp USING btree (a)
 (3 rows)
 
-SELECT nextval('pg_dist_shardid_seq') = MAX(shardid)+1 FROM pg_dist_shard;
+SELECT nextval('pg_dist_shardid_seq') > MAX(shardid) FROM pg_dist_shard;
  ?column?
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
  t
 (1 row)
 
-SELECT nextval('pg_dist_placement_placementid_seq') = MAX(placementid)+1 FROM pg_dist_placement;
+SELECT nextval('pg_dist_placement_placementid_seq') > MAX(placementid) FROM pg_dist_placement;
  ?column?
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
  t
 (1 row)
 
-SELECT nextval('pg_dist_groupid_seq') = MAX(groupid)+1 FROM pg_dist_node;
+SELECT nextval('pg_dist_groupid_seq') > MAX(groupid) FROM pg_dist_node;
  ?column?
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
  t
 (1 row)
 
-SELECT nextval('pg_dist_node_nodeid_seq') = MAX(nodeid)+1 FROM pg_dist_node;
+SELECT nextval('pg_dist_node_nodeid_seq') > MAX(nodeid) FROM pg_dist_node;
  ?column?
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
  t
 (1 row)
 
-SELECT nextval('pg_dist_colocationid_seq') = MAX(colocationid)+1 FROM pg_dist_colocation;
+SELECT nextval('pg_dist_colocationid_seq') > MAX(colocationid) FROM pg_dist_colocation;
  ?column?
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
  t
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ SELECT nextval('pg_dist_colocationid_seq') = MAX(colocationid)+1 FROM pg_dist_co
 SELECT
     CASE WHEN MAX(operation_id) IS NULL
     THEN true
-    ELSE nextval('pg_dist_operationid_seq') = MAX(operation_id)+1
+    ELSE nextval('pg_dist_operationid_seq') > MAX(operation_id)
     END AS check_operationid
     FROM pg_dist_cleanup;
  check_operationid
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ SELECT
 SELECT
     CASE WHEN MAX(record_id) IS NULL
     THEN true
-    ELSE nextval('pg_dist_cleanup_recordid_seq') = MAX(record_id)+1
+    ELSE nextval('pg_dist_cleanup_recordid_seq') > MAX(record_id)
     END AS check_recordid
     FROM pg_dist_cleanup;
  check_recordid
@@ -93,8 +93,8 @@ SELECT sequence_name FROM information_schema.sequences
     'pg_dist_groupid_seq',
     'pg_dist_node_nodeid_seq',
     'pg_dist_colocationid_seq',
-	'pg_dist_operationid_seq',
-	'pg_dist_cleanup_recordid_seq',
+    'pg_dist_operationid_seq',
+    'pg_dist_cleanup_recordid_seq',
     'pg_dist_background_job_job_id_seq',
     'pg_dist_background_task_task_id_seq',
     'pg_dist_clock_logical_seq'
diff --git a/src/test/regress/minimal_pg_upgrade_schedule b/src/test/regress/minimal_pg_upgrade_schedule
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..64e5c982d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/regress/minimal_pg_upgrade_schedule
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+test: multi_test_helpers multi_test_helpers_superuser multi_test_catalog_views
diff --git a/src/test/regress/sql/upgrade_basic_after.sql b/src/test/regress/sql/upgrade_basic_after.sql
index 03c218a06..f2fc61769 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/sql/upgrade_basic_after.sql
+++ b/src/test/regress/sql/upgrade_basic_after.sql
@@ -3,24 +3,24 @@ BEGIN;
 -- We have the tablename filter to avoid adding an alternative output for when the coordinator is in metadata vs when not
 SELECT * FROM pg_indexes WHERE schemaname = 'upgrade_basic' and tablename NOT LIKE 'r_%' ORDER BY tablename;
 
-SELECT nextval('pg_dist_shardid_seq') = MAX(shardid)+1 FROM pg_dist_shard;
-SELECT nextval('pg_dist_placement_placementid_seq') = MAX(placementid)+1 FROM pg_dist_placement;
-SELECT nextval('pg_dist_groupid_seq') = MAX(groupid)+1 FROM pg_dist_node;
-SELECT nextval('pg_dist_node_nodeid_seq') = MAX(nodeid)+1 FROM pg_dist_node;
-SELECT nextval('pg_dist_colocationid_seq') = MAX(colocationid)+1 FROM pg_dist_colocation;
+SELECT nextval('pg_dist_shardid_seq') > MAX(shardid) FROM pg_dist_shard;
+SELECT nextval('pg_dist_placement_placementid_seq') > MAX(placementid) FROM pg_dist_placement;
+SELECT nextval('pg_dist_groupid_seq') > MAX(groupid) FROM pg_dist_node;
+SELECT nextval('pg_dist_node_nodeid_seq') > MAX(nodeid) FROM pg_dist_node;
+SELECT nextval('pg_dist_colocationid_seq') > MAX(colocationid) FROM pg_dist_colocation;
 -- while testing sequences on pg_dist_cleanup, they return null in pg upgrade schedule
 -- but return a valid value in citus upgrade schedule
 -- that's why we accept both NULL and MAX()+1 here
 SELECT
     CASE WHEN MAX(operation_id) IS NULL
     THEN true
-    ELSE nextval('pg_dist_operationid_seq') = MAX(operation_id)+1
+    ELSE nextval('pg_dist_operationid_seq') > MAX(operation_id)
     END AS check_operationid
     FROM pg_dist_cleanup;
 SELECT
     CASE WHEN MAX(record_id) IS NULL
     THEN true
-    ELSE nextval('pg_dist_cleanup_recordid_seq') = MAX(record_id)+1
+    ELSE nextval('pg_dist_cleanup_recordid_seq') > MAX(record_id)
     END AS check_recordid
     FROM pg_dist_cleanup;
 SELECT nextval('pg_dist_background_job_job_id_seq') > COALESCE(MAX(job_id), 0) FROM pg_dist_background_job;