diff --git a/truss/cli/train/deploy_checkpoints/deploy_full_checkpoints.py b/truss/cli/train/deploy_checkpoints/deploy_full_checkpoints.py
index 2e6093977..9b19866b5 100644
--- a/truss/cli/train/deploy_checkpoints/deploy_full_checkpoints.py
+++ b/truss/cli/train/deploy_checkpoints/deploy_full_checkpoints.py
@@ -14,12 +14,19 @@
     setup_environment_variables_and_secrets,
 )
 
+# NB(aghilan): Transformers was recently changed to save a chat_template.jinja file instead of inside the tokenizer_config.json file.
+# Old Models will not have this file, so we check for it and use it if it exists.
+# vLLM will not automatically resolve the chat_template.jinja file, so we need to pass it to the start command.
+# This logic is needed for any models trained using Transformers v4.51.3 or later
 VLLM_FULL_START_COMMAND = Template(
-    'sh -c "{%if envvars %}{{ envvars }} {% endif %}vllm serve {{ model_path }}'
-    + " --port 8000"
-    + " --tensor-parallel-size {{ specify_tensor_parallelism }}"
-    + " --dtype bfloat16"
-    + '"'
+    "sh -c '{% if envvars %}{{ envvars }} {% endif %}"
+    'HF_TOKEN="$$(cat /secrets/hf_access_token)" && export HF_TOKEN && '
+    "if [ -f {{ model_path }}/chat_template.jinja ]; then "
+    "  vllm serve {{ model_path }} --chat-template {{ model_path }}/chat_template.jinja "
+    "  --port 8000 --tensor-parallel-size {{ specify_tensor_parallelism }} --dtype bfloat16; "
+    "else "
+    "  vllm serve {{ model_path }} --port 8000 --tensor-parallel-size {{ specify_tensor_parallelism }} --dtype bfloat16; "
+    "fi'"
 )
 
 
diff --git a/truss/tests/cli/train/test_deploy_checkpoints.py b/truss/tests/cli/train/test_deploy_checkpoints.py
index e049fd636..336b112e6 100644
--- a/truss/tests/cli/train/test_deploy_checkpoints.py
+++ b/truss/tests/cli/train/test_deploy_checkpoints.py
@@ -505,8 +505,16 @@ def test_render_vllm_full_truss_config():
     )
 
     result = render_vllm_full_truss_config(deploy_config)
-
-    expected_vllm_command = 'sh -c "HF_TOKEN=$(cat /secrets/hf_token) vllm serve /tmp/training_checkpoints/job123/rank-0/checkpoint-1 --port 8000 --tensor-parallel-size 2 --dtype bfloat16"'
+    expected_vllm_command = (
+        "sh -c 'HF_TOKEN=$(cat /secrets/hf_token) "
+        'HF_TOKEN="$$(cat /secrets/hf_access_token)" && export HF_TOKEN && '
+        "if [ -f /tmp/training_checkpoints/job123/rank-0/checkpoint-1/chat_template.jinja ]; then   "
+        "vllm serve /tmp/training_checkpoints/job123/rank-0/checkpoint-1 "
+        "--chat-template /tmp/training_checkpoints/job123/rank-0/checkpoint-1/chat_template.jinja   "
+        "--port 8000 --tensor-parallel-size 2 --dtype bfloat16; else   "
+        "vllm serve /tmp/training_checkpoints/job123/rank-0/checkpoint-1 "
+        "--port 8000 --tensor-parallel-size 2 --dtype bfloat16; fi'"
+    )
 
     assert isinstance(result, truss_config.TrussConfig)
     assert result.model_name == "test-full-model"