diff --git a/Modules/_asynciomodule.c b/Modules/_asynciomodule.c
index 13dd2fd55fd454..27c16364457336 100644
--- a/Modules/_asynciomodule.c
+++ b/Modules/_asynciomodule.c
@@ -3723,6 +3723,11 @@ module_clear(PyObject *mod)
     Py_CLEAR(state->iscoroutine_typecache);
 
     Py_CLEAR(state->context_kwname);
+    // Clear the ref to running loop so that finalizers can run early.
+    // If there are other running loops in different threads,
+    // those get cleared in PyThreadState_Clear.
+    _PyThreadStateImpl *ts = (_PyThreadStateImpl *)_PyThreadState_GET();
+    Py_CLEAR(ts->asyncio_running_loop);
 
     return 0;
 }