diff --git a/google-http-client/pom.xml b/google-http-client/pom.xml
index fe8e384d4..f748898e4 100644
--- a/google-http-client/pom.xml
+++ b/google-http-client/pom.xml
@@ -16,6 +16,18 @@
   </description>
 
   <build>
+    <pluginManagement>
+      <plugins>
+        <plugin>
+          <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+          <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
+          <version>3.1.1</version>
+          <configuration>
+            <ignoredUnusedDeclaredDependencies>io.opencensus:opencensus-impl</ignoredUnusedDeclaredDependencies>
+          </configuration>
+        </plugin>
+      </plugins>
+    </pluginManagement>
     <plugins>
       <plugin>
         <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
@@ -84,6 +96,19 @@
       <groupId>com.google.guava</groupId>
       <artifactId>guava</artifactId>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>com.google.j2objc</groupId>
+      <artifactId>j2objc-annotations</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>io.opencensus</groupId>
+      <artifactId>opencensus-api</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>io.opencensus</groupId>
+      <artifactId>opencensus-contrib-http-util</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
+
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.google.guava</groupId>
       <artifactId>guava-testlib</artifactId>
@@ -104,17 +129,15 @@
       <artifactId>mockito-all</artifactId>
       <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>com.google.j2objc</groupId>
-      <artifactId>j2objc-annotations</artifactId>
-    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>io.opencensus</groupId>
-      <artifactId>opencensus-api</artifactId>
+      <artifactId>opencensus-impl</artifactId>
+      <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>io.opencensus</groupId>
-      <artifactId>opencensus-contrib-http-util</artifactId>
+      <artifactId>opencensus-testing</artifactId>
+      <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
   </dependencies>
 </project>
diff --git a/google-http-client/src/main/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequest.java b/google-http-client/src/main/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequest.java
index 57adecde5..c53c10e07 100644
--- a/google-http-client/src/main/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequest.java
+++ b/google-http-client/src/main/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequest.java
@@ -1013,6 +1013,8 @@ public HttpResponse execute() throws IOException {
         if (!retryOnExecuteIOException
             && (ioExceptionHandler == null
                 || !ioExceptionHandler.handleIOException(this, retryRequest))) {
+          // static analysis shows response is always null here
+          span.end(OpenCensusUtils.getEndSpanOptions(null));
           throw e;
         }
         // Save the exception in case the retries do not work and we need to re-throw it later.
diff --git a/google-http-client/src/test/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequestTest.java b/google-http-client/src/test/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequestTest.java
index f024e05cb..66b6449eb 100644
--- a/google-http-client/src/test/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequestTest.java
+++ b/google-http-client/src/test/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequestTest.java
@@ -1222,13 +1222,9 @@ public void testExecute_curlLogger() throws Exception {
     for (String message : recorder.messages()) {
       if (message.startsWith("curl")) {
         found = true;
-        assertEquals(
-            "curl -v --compressed -H 'Accept-Encoding: gzip' -H 'User-Agent: "
-                + "Google-HTTP-Java-Client/"
-                + HttpRequest.VERSION
-                + " (gzip)"
-                + "' -- 'http://google.com/#q=a'\"'\"'b'\"'\"'c'",
-            message);
+        assertTrue(message.contains("curl -v --compressed -H 'Accept-Encoding: gzip'"));
+        assertTrue(message.contains("-H 'User-Agent: Google-HTTP-Java-Client/" + HttpRequest.VERSION + " (gzip)'"));
+        assertTrue(message.contains("' -- 'http://google.com/#q=a'\"'\"'b'\"'\"'c'"));
       }
     }
     assertTrue(found);
@@ -1253,16 +1249,13 @@ public void testExecute_curlLoggerWithContentEncoding() throws Exception {
         .execute();
 
     boolean found = false;
-    final String expectedCurlLog =
-        "curl -v --compressed -X POST -H 'Accept-Encoding: gzip' "
-            + "-H 'User-Agent: "
-            + HttpRequest.USER_AGENT_SUFFIX
-            + "' -H 'Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8' -H 'Content-Encoding: gzip' "
-            + "-d '@-' -- 'http://google.com/#q=a'\"'\"'b'\"'\"'c' << $$$";
     for (String message : recorder.messages()) {
       if (message.startsWith("curl")) {
         found = true;
-        assertEquals(expectedCurlLog, message);
+        assertTrue(message.contains("curl -v --compressed -X POST -H 'Accept-Encoding: gzip'"));
+        assertTrue(message.contains("-H 'User-Agent: " + HttpRequest.USER_AGENT_SUFFIX + "'"));
+        assertTrue(message.contains("-H 'Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8' -H 'Content-Encoding: gzip'"));
+        assertTrue(message.contains("-d '@-' -- 'http://google.com/#q=a'\"'\"'b'\"'\"'c' << $$$"));
       }
     }
     assertTrue(found);
diff --git a/google-http-client/src/test/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequestTracingTest.java b/google-http-client/src/test/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequestTracingTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5d89f0350
--- /dev/null
+++ b/google-http-client/src/test/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequestTracingTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2019 Google LLC
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except
+ * in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License
+ * is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express
+ * or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
+ * the License.
+ */
+package com.google.api.client.http;
+
+import com.google.api.client.testing.http.MockHttpTransport;
+import com.google.api.client.testing.http.MockLowLevelHttpRequest;
+import com.google.api.client.testing.http.MockLowLevelHttpResponse;
+import io.opencensus.common.Functions;
+import io.opencensus.testing.export.TestHandler;
+import io.opencensus.trace.AttributeValue;
+import io.opencensus.trace.MessageEvent;
+import io.opencensus.trace.Status;
+import io.opencensus.trace.Tracing;
+import io.opencensus.trace.config.TraceParams;
+import io.opencensus.trace.export.SpanData;
+import io.opencensus.trace.samplers.Samplers;
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import static com.google.api.client.http.OpenCensusUtils.SPAN_NAME_HTTP_REQUEST_EXECUTE;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+
+public class HttpRequestTracingTest {
+  private static final TestHandler testHandler = new TestHandler();
+
+  @Before
+  public void setupTestTracer() {
+    Tracing.getExportComponent().getSpanExporter().registerHandler("test", testHandler);
+    TraceParams params =
+        Tracing.getTraceConfig()
+            .getActiveTraceParams()
+            .toBuilder()
+            .setSampler(Samplers.alwaysSample())
+            .build();
+    Tracing.getTraceConfig().updateActiveTraceParams(params);
+  }
+
+  @After
+  public void teardownTestTracer() {
+    Tracing.getExportComponent().getSpanExporter().unregisterHandler("test");
+  }
+
+  @Test(timeout = 20_000L)
+  public void executeCreatesSpan() throws IOException {
+    MockLowLevelHttpResponse mockResponse = new MockLowLevelHttpResponse()
+        .setStatusCode(200);
+    HttpTransport transport = new MockHttpTransport.Builder()
+        .setLowLevelHttpResponse(mockResponse)
+        .build();
+    HttpRequest request = new HttpRequestFactory(transport, null)
+        .buildGetRequest(new GenericUrl("https://google.com/"));
+    request.execute();
+
+    // This call blocks - we set a timeout on this test to ensure we don't wait forever
+    List<SpanData> spans = testHandler.waitForExport(1);
+    assertEquals(1, spans.size());
+    SpanData span = spans.get(0);
+
+    // Ensure the span name is set
+    assertEquals(SPAN_NAME_HTTP_REQUEST_EXECUTE, span.getName());
+
+    // Ensure we have basic span attributes
+    assertAttributeEquals(span, "http.path", "/");
+    assertAttributeEquals(span, "http.host", "google.com");
+    assertAttributeEquals(span, "http.url", "https://google.com/");
+    assertAttributeEquals(span, "http.method", "GET");
+
+    // Ensure we have a single annotation for starting the first attempt
+    assertEquals(1, span.getAnnotations().getEvents().size());
+
+    // Ensure we have 2 message events, SENT and RECEIVED
+    assertEquals(2, span.getMessageEvents().getEvents().size());
+    assertEquals(MessageEvent.Type.SENT, span.getMessageEvents().getEvents().get(0).getEvent().getType());
+    assertEquals(MessageEvent.Type.RECEIVED, span.getMessageEvents().getEvents().get(1).getEvent().getType());
+
+    // Ensure we record the span status as OK
+    assertEquals(Status.OK, span.getStatus());
+  }
+
+  @Test(timeout = 20_000L)
+  public void executeExceptionCreatesSpan() throws IOException {
+    HttpTransport transport = new MockHttpTransport.Builder()
+        .setLowLevelHttpRequest(new MockLowLevelHttpRequest() {
+          @Override
+          public LowLevelHttpResponse execute() throws IOException {
+            throw new IOException("some IOException");
+          }
+        })
+        .build();
+    HttpRequest request = new HttpRequestFactory(transport, null)
+        .buildGetRequest(new GenericUrl("https://google.com/"));
+
+    try {
+      request.execute();
+      fail("expected to throw an IOException");
+    } catch (IOException expected) {
+    }
+
+    // This call blocks - we set a timeout on this test to ensure we don't wait forever
+    List<SpanData> spans = testHandler.waitForExport(1);
+    assertEquals(1, spans.size());
+    SpanData span = spans.get(0);
+
+    // Ensure the span name is set
+    assertEquals(SPAN_NAME_HTTP_REQUEST_EXECUTE, span.getName());
+
+    // Ensure we have basic span attributes
+    assertAttributeEquals(span, "http.path", "/");
+    assertAttributeEquals(span, "http.host", "google.com");
+    assertAttributeEquals(span, "http.url", "https://google.com/");
+    assertAttributeEquals(span, "http.method", "GET");
+
+    // Ensure we have a single annotation for starting the first attempt
+    assertEquals(1, span.getAnnotations().getEvents().size());
+
+    // Ensure we have 2 message events, SENT and RECEIVED
+    assertEquals(1, span.getMessageEvents().getEvents().size());
+    assertEquals(MessageEvent.Type.SENT, span.getMessageEvents().getEvents().get(0).getEvent().getType());
+
+    // Ensure we record the span status as UNKNOWN
+    assertEquals(Status.UNKNOWN, span.getStatus());  }
+
+  void assertAttributeEquals(SpanData span, String attributeName, String expectedValue) {
+    Object attributeValue = span.getAttributes().getAttributeMap().get(attributeName);
+    assertNotNull("expected span to contain attribute: " + attributeName, attributeValue);
+    assertTrue(attributeValue instanceof AttributeValue);
+    String value = ((AttributeValue) attributeValue).match(
+        Functions.returnToString(),
+        Functions.returnToString(),
+        Functions.returnToString(),
+        Functions.returnToString(),
+        Functions.</*@Nullable*/ String>returnNull());
+    assertEquals(expectedValue, value);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index d7d5e8b69..74d26649c 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -242,6 +242,16 @@
         <artifactId>opencensus-contrib-http-util</artifactId>
         <version>${project.opencensus.version}</version>
       </dependency>
+      <dependency>
+        <groupId>io.opencensus</groupId>
+        <artifactId>opencensus-impl</artifactId>
+        <version>${project.opencensus.version}</version>
+      </dependency>
+      <dependency>
+        <groupId>io.opencensus</groupId>
+        <artifactId>opencensus-testing</artifactId>
+        <version>${project.opencensus.version}</version>
+      </dependency>
     </dependencies>
   </dependencyManagement>