I’m not sure what fixed it because I tried multiple things yesterday, but it shutdown normally last night.
A kernel update, if it’s done right, shouldn’t cause a panic. But not every distro does updates right.
If you know the old version and the new version then it might be useful to reach out to the Mint community and see if they’re aware of issues like that.
https://linuxmint.com/getinvolved.php -> forums or chat might be fruitful to you