diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index e38e2dd0..92d59e1c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+v0.4.4:
+  date: 2014-04-12
+  changes:
+    - Only signal completion of tasks async if grunt.task.start is invoked with `{asyncDone:true}`.
 v0.4.3:
   date: 2014-03-07
   changes:
diff --git a/lib/grunt.js b/lib/grunt.js
index 297c6c53..0ea8909d 100644
--- a/lib/grunt.js
+++ b/lib/grunt.js
@@ -156,5 +156,7 @@ grunt.tasks = function(tasks, options, done) {
   // Execute all tasks, in order. Passing each task individually in a forEach
   // allows the error callback to execute multiple times.
   tasks.forEach(function(name) { task.run(name); });
-  task.start();
+  // Run tasks async internally to reduce call-stack, per:
+  // https://github.com/gruntjs/grunt/pull/1026
+  task.start({asyncDone:true});
 };
diff --git a/lib/util/task.js b/lib/util/task.js
index 17e5f7b8..4944b200 100644
--- a/lib/util/task.js
+++ b/lib/util/task.js
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@
   };
 
   // Run a task function, handling this.async / return value.
-  Task.prototype.runTaskFn = function(context, fn, done) {
+  Task.prototype.runTaskFn = function(context, fn, done, asyncDone) {
     // Async flag.
     var async = false;
 
@@ -215,9 +215,15 @@
       if (!success && this._options.error) {
         this._options.error.call({name: context.name, nameArgs: context.nameArgs}, err);
       }
-      process.nextTick(function () {
+      // only call done async if explicitly requested to
+      // see: https://github.com/gruntjs/grunt/pull/1026
+      if (asyncDone) {
+        process.nextTick(function () {
+          done(err, success);
+        });
+      } else {
         done(err, success);
-      });
+      }
     }.bind(this);
 
     // When called, sets the async flag and returns a function that can
@@ -248,7 +254,10 @@
   };
 
   // Begin task queue processing. Ie. run all tasks.
-  Task.prototype.start = function() {
+  Task.prototype.start = function(opts) {
+    if (!opts) {
+      opts = {};
+    }
     // Abort if already running.
     if (this._running) { return false; }
     // Actually process the next task.
@@ -285,7 +294,7 @@
       // Actually run the task function (handling this.async, etc)
       this.runTaskFn(context, function() {
         return thing.task.fn.apply(this, this.args);
-      }, nextTask);
+      }, nextTask, !!opts.asyncDone);
 
     }.bind(this);