diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-upload.yml b/.github/workflows/release-upload.yml
index 402f0acfd3..f7d6306fc2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-upload.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-upload.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,14 @@ on:
       git-tag:
         type: string
         required: true
+      run-id:
+        description: "The GHA run ID that generated validated artifacts"
+        type: string
+        required: true
+      component:
+        description: "Component to download wheels for"
+        type: string
+        required: true
 
 concurrency:
   # Concurrency group that uses the workflow name and PR number if available
@@ -63,3 +71,16 @@ jobs:
           --clobber "${{ inputs.git-tag }}"
           --repo "${{ github.repository }}"
           release/*
+
+      - name: Download and Upload Wheels
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+        run: |
+          # Use the shared script to download wheels
+          ./ci/tools/download-wheels "${{ inputs.run-id }}" "${{ inputs.component }}" "${{ github.repository }}" "release/wheels"
+          
+          # Upload wheels to the release
+          if [[ -d "release/wheels" && $(ls -A release/wheels 2>/dev/null | wc -l) -gt 0 ]]; then
+            echo "Uploading wheels to release ${{ inputs.git-tag }}"
+            gh release upload --clobber "${{ inputs.git-tag }}" --repo "${{ github.repository }}" release/wheels/*
+          fi
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index c483d1be8b..6e423b5565 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 name: "CI: Release"
 
-description: Manually-triggered release workflow. Must have a release note in the draft state and the release commit tagged.
+description: Manually-triggered release workflow. Creates a release draft if one doesn't exist for the given tag, or uses existing draft.
 
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
@@ -46,7 +46,12 @@ jobs:
   check-tag:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - name: Check if draft exists for the tag
+      - name: Checkout Source
+        uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8  # v5.0.0
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Check or create draft release for the tag
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
         run: |
@@ -62,7 +67,7 @@ jobs:
           found=0
           for idx in ${!tags[@]}; do
             if [[ "${tags[$idx]}" == "${{ inputs.git-tag }}" ]]; then
-              echo "found ${{ inputs.git-tag }}"
+              echo "found existing release for ${{ inputs.git-tag }}"
               found=1
               if [[ "${is_draft[$idx]}" != "true" ]]; then
                 echo "the release note is not in draft state"
@@ -72,8 +77,8 @@ jobs:
             fi
           done
           if [[ "$found" == 0 ]]; then
-            echo "the release is not yet tagged"
-            exit 1
+            echo "no release found for ${{ inputs.git-tag }}, creating draft release"
+            gh release create "${{ inputs.git-tag }}" --draft --repo "${{ github.repository }}" --title "Release ${{ inputs.git-tag }}" --notes "Release ${{ inputs.git-tag }}"
           fi
 
   doc:
@@ -105,6 +110,8 @@ jobs:
     uses: ./.github/workflows/release-upload.yml
     with:
       git-tag: ${{ inputs.git-tag }}
+      run-id: ${{ inputs.run-id }}
+      component: ${{ inputs.component }}
 
   publish-wheels:
     name: Publish wheels
@@ -117,21 +124,14 @@ jobs:
     permissions:
       id-token: write
     steps:
+      - name: Checkout Source
+        uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8  # v5.0.0
+
       - name: Download component wheels
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
         run: |
-          gh run download ${{ inputs.run-id }} -p "${{ inputs.component }}*" -R ${{ github.repository }}
-          mkdir dist
-          for p in ${{ inputs.component }}*
-          do
-            # exclude cython test artifacts
-            if [[ "${p}" == *-tests ]]; then
-              continue
-            fi
-            mv ${p}/*.whl dist/
-          done
-          rm -rf ${{ inputs.component }}*
+          ./ci/tools/download-wheels "${{ inputs.run-id }}" "${{ inputs.component }}" "${{ github.repository }}" "dist"
 
       - name: Publish package distributions to PyPI
         if: ${{ inputs.wheel-dst == 'pypi' }}
diff --git a/ci/tools/download-wheels b/ci/tools/download-wheels
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..05509bfc0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci/tools/download-wheels
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+# A utility script to download component wheels from GitHub Actions artifacts.
+# This script reuses the same logic that was in release.yml to maintain consistency.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Check required arguments
+if [[ $# -lt 3 ]]; then
+    echo "Usage: $0 <run-id> <component> <repository> [output-dir]" >&2
+    echo "  run-id: The GitHub Actions run ID containing the artifacts" >&2
+    echo "  component: The component name pattern to download (e.g., cuda-core, cuda-bindings)" >&2
+    echo "  repository: The GitHub repository (e.g., NVIDIA/cuda-python)" >&2
+    echo "  output-dir: Optional output directory (default: ./dist)" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+RUN_ID="$1"
+COMPONENT="$2"
+REPOSITORY="$3"
+OUTPUT_DIR="${4:-./dist}"
+
+# Ensure we have a GitHub token
+if [[ -z "${GH_TOKEN:-}" ]]; then
+    echo "Error: GH_TOKEN environment variable is required"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "Downloading wheels for component: $COMPONENT from run: $RUN_ID"
+
+# Download component wheels using the same logic as release.yml
+if [[ "$COMPONENT" == "all" ]]; then
+    # Download all component patterns
+    gh run download "$RUN_ID" -p "cuda-*" -R "$REPOSITORY"
+else
+    gh run download "$RUN_ID" -p "${COMPONENT}*" -R "$REPOSITORY"
+fi
+
+# Create output directory
+mkdir -p "$OUTPUT_DIR"
+
+# Process downloaded artifacts
+for p in cuda-*
+do
+    if [[ ! -d "$p" ]]; then
+        continue
+    fi
+    
+    # exclude cython test artifacts
+    if [[ "${p}" == *-tests ]]; then
+        echo "Skipping test artifact: $p"
+        continue
+    fi
+    
+    # If we're not downloading "all", only process matching component
+    if [[ "$COMPONENT" != "all" && "$p" != ${COMPONENT}* ]]; then
+        continue
+    fi
+    
+    echo "Processing artifact: $p"
+    # Move wheel files to output directory
+    if [[ -d "$p" ]]; then
+        find "$p" -name "*.whl" -exec mv {} "$OUTPUT_DIR/" \;
+    fi
+done
+
+# Clean up artifact directories
+rm -rf cuda-*
+
+echo "Downloaded wheels to: $OUTPUT_DIR"
+ls -la "$OUTPUT_DIR"
\ No newline at end of file