diff --git a/src/runtime/export_test.go b/src/runtime/export_test.go
index f742225d51..a6fc1e4785 100644
--- a/src/runtime/export_test.go
+++ b/src/runtime/export_test.go
@@ -1267,3 +1267,5 @@ func GCTestIsReachable(ptrs ...unsafe.Pointer) (mask uint64) {
 func GCTestPointerClass(p unsafe.Pointer) string {
 	return gcTestPointerClass(p)
 }
+
+const Raceenabled = raceenabled
diff --git a/src/runtime/malloc.go b/src/runtime/malloc.go
index f2d2425f53..3db884f498 100644
--- a/src/runtime/malloc.go
+++ b/src/runtime/malloc.go
@@ -1047,7 +1047,8 @@ func mallocgc(size uintptr, typ *_type, needzero bool) unsafe.Pointer {
 			(*[2]uint64)(x)[1] = 0
 			// See if we need to replace the existing tiny block with the new one
 			// based on amount of remaining free space.
-			if size < c.tinyoffset || c.tiny == 0 {
+			if !raceenabled && (size < c.tinyoffset || c.tiny == 0) {
+				// Note: disabled when race detector is on, see comment near end of this function.
 				c.tiny = uintptr(x)
 				c.tinyoffset = size
 			}
@@ -1165,6 +1166,22 @@ func mallocgc(size uintptr, typ *_type, needzero bool) unsafe.Pointer {
 		}
 	}
 
+	if raceenabled && noscan && dataSize < maxTinySize {
+		// Pad tinysize allocations so they are aligned with the end
+		// of the tinyalloc region. This ensures that any arithmetic
+		// that goes off the top end of the object will be detectable
+		// by checkptr (issue 38872).
+		// Note that we disable tinyalloc when raceenabled for this to work.
+		// TODO: This padding is only performed when the race detector
+		// is enabled. It would be nice to enable it if any package
+		// was compiled with checkptr, but there's no easy way to
+		// detect that (especially at compile time).
+		// TODO: enable this padding for all allocations, not just
+		// tinyalloc ones. It's tricky because of pointer maps.
+		// Maybe just all noscan objects?
+		x = add(x, size-dataSize)
+	}
+
 	return x
 }
 
diff --git a/src/runtime/malloc_test.go b/src/runtime/malloc_test.go
index 4ba94d0494..e028554b23 100644
--- a/src/runtime/malloc_test.go
+++ b/src/runtime/malloc_test.go
@@ -154,6 +154,9 @@ func TestStringConcatenationAllocs(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestTinyAlloc(t *testing.T) {
+	if runtime.Raceenabled {
+		t.Skip("tinyalloc suppressed when running in race mode")
+	}
 	const N = 16
 	var v [N]unsafe.Pointer
 	for i := range v {
@@ -182,6 +185,9 @@ type obj12 struct {
 }
 
 func TestTinyAllocIssue37262(t *testing.T) {
+	if runtime.Raceenabled {
+		t.Skip("tinyalloc suppressed when running in race mode")
+	}
 	// Try to cause an alignment access fault
 	// by atomically accessing the first 64-bit
 	// value of a tiny-allocated object.