diff --git a/vllm/v1/attention/backends/flashinfer.py b/vllm/v1/attention/backends/flashinfer.py
index 07c19ea6b9f8..7d35ac377260 100755
--- a/vllm/v1/attention/backends/flashinfer.py
+++ b/vllm/v1/attention/backends/flashinfer.py
@@ -644,6 +644,10 @@ class FlashInferMetadata:
     num_prefill_tokens: int
     causal: bool
 
+    kv_cache_layout: KVCacheLayout
+    """From the builder's config: a draft impl's construction-time config is a
+    derived copy that never sees the layout resolved after loading."""
+
     prefill: FIPrefill | TRTLLMPrefill | None
     """
     Holds the metadata for the prefill portion of the batch.
@@ -1388,6 +1392,7 @@ def build(
             num_prefills=num_prefills,
             num_prefill_tokens=num_prefill_tokens,
             causal=causal,
+            kv_cache_layout=self.kv_cache_layout,
             use_cascade=use_cascade,
             prefill=None,
             decode=None,
@@ -1813,8 +1818,6 @@ def __init__(
             num_heads, num_kv_heads, is_prefill=False
         )
         vllm_config = get_current_vllm_config_or_none()
-        # The layout is resolved after model construction, so read it lazily.
-        self.cache_config = vllm_config.cache_config if vllm_config else None
         # Query pre-quantization needs a single dtype for the whole query tensor.
         # SM90 XQA needs BF16/FP16-Q for decode and FP8 for prefill,
         # so only enable this for SM100 trtllm-gen where both use FP8-Q.
@@ -1850,11 +1853,6 @@ def __init__(
         else:
             self.dcp_combine = partial(cp_lse_ag_out_rs, is_lse_base_on_e=False)
 
-    @property
-    def kv_cache_layout(self) -> KVCacheLayout:
-        assert self.cache_config is not None
-        return self.cache_config.get_resolved_kv_cache_layout()
-
     def fused_output_quant_supported(self, quant_key: QuantKey):
         # XQA does not support FP8/NVFP4 output, so require trtllm-gen
         # (SM100+) here.  Without that we cannot fuse the output quant.
@@ -2020,11 +2018,12 @@ def forward(
         value = value[:num_actual_tokens]
         output_padded = output
         output = output[:num_actual_tokens]
+        kv_cache_layout = attn_metadata.kv_cache_layout
 
         if attn_metadata.use_cascade:
             # Cascade attention (rare case).
             assert attn_metadata.cascade_wrapper is not None
-            stride_order = self.kv_cache_layout.layer_view_order
+            stride_order = kv_cache_layout.layer_view_order
             if self.is_kvcache_nvfp4:
                 kv_cache_views = tuple(
                     cache.permute(*stride_order)
@@ -2044,7 +2043,7 @@ def forward(
         num_decode_tokens = attn_metadata.num_decode_tokens
         num_prefill_tokens = attn_metadata.num_prefill_tokens
 
-        stride_order = self.kv_cache_layout.layer_view_order
+        stride_order = kv_cache_layout.layer_view_order
         kv_cache_permute = kv_cache.permute(*stride_order)  # HND and contiguous
         # Fix degenerate strides on any size-1 dimension (e.g. num_kv_heads=1
         # with TP=8).  PyTorch permits non-canonical strides on size-1 dims;
@@ -2200,7 +2199,7 @@ def forward(
                 seq_lens_prefill = attn_metadata.prefill.seq_lens
 
                 # This path needs to be enabled with VLLM_KV_CACHE_LAYOUT = HND
-                assert get_flashinfer_layout_string(self.kv_cache_layout) == "HND"
+                assert get_flashinfer_layout_string(kv_cache_layout) == "HND"
                 assert is_strictly_contiguous(prefill_query)
                 assert is_strictly_contiguous(workspace_buffer)
                 assert is_strictly_contiguous(block_tables_prefill)
@@ -2385,7 +2384,7 @@ def forward(
                 # trtllm-gen needs HND layout on SM100. XQA is selected
                 # separately on SM90 and does not use this SM100 layout gate.
                 if decode_with_trtllm_gen:
-                    assert get_flashinfer_layout_string(self.kv_cache_layout) == "HND"
+                    assert get_flashinfer_layout_string(kv_cache_layout) == "HND"
                 else:
                     assert decode_with_xqa
                 assert is_strictly_contiguous(decode_query)
@@ -2431,7 +2430,7 @@ def forward(
                         window_left=self.window_left,
                         out=output[:num_decode_tokens],
                         sinks=self.sinks,
-                        kv_layout=get_flashinfer_layout_string(self.kv_cache_layout),
+                        kv_layout=get_flashinfer_layout_string(kv_cache_layout),
                         q_len_per_req=q_len_per_req,
                         mask=attn_metadata.decode.mask,
                         q_cu_seq_lens=attn_metadata.decode.q_cu_seq_lens,
@@ -2510,7 +2509,7 @@ def forward(
                     sinks=self.sinks,
                     o_sf_scale=self.o_sf_scale,
                     out=out,
-                    kv_layout=get_flashinfer_layout_string(self.kv_cache_layout),
+                    kv_layout=get_flashinfer_layout_string(kv_cache_layout),
                     backend=attn_metadata.decode.kernel.value,
                     q_len_per_req=q_len_per_req,
                     max_q_len=max_q_len,