diff --git a/examples/specdec_bench/run.py b/examples/specdec_bench/run.py
index f4fbf06c0e..1a6cdb8238 100644
--- a/examples/specdec_bench/run.py
+++ b/examples/specdec_bench/run.py
@@ -155,6 +155,7 @@ def run_simple(args):
         draft_model_dir=args.draft_model_dir,
         speculative_num_steps=args.draft_length,
         tensor_parallel_size=args.tp_size,
+        data_parallel_size=args.data_parallel_size,
         moe_expert_parallel_size=args.ep_size,
         trust_remote_code=args.trust_remote_code,
         tokenizer_path=args.tokenizer,
diff --git a/examples/specdec_bench/specdec_bench/datasets/speed.py b/examples/specdec_bench/specdec_bench/datasets/speed.py
index fe544bb353..22879848eb 100644
--- a/examples/specdec_bench/specdec_bench/datasets/speed.py
+++ b/examples/specdec_bench/specdec_bench/datasets/speed.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 # mypy: disable-error-code="index"
+import math
 import random
 import re
 from enum import Enum
@@ -737,10 +738,44 @@ def _load_dataset(self, config_name_or_dataset_path: config_type | str) -> "Data
                     }
                     table = table.replace_schema_metadata(new_meta or None)
                 dataset = HFDataset(table)
-        if self.num_samples is not None:
-            dataset = dataset.select(range(self.num_samples))
+        if self.num_samples is not None and self.num_samples < len(dataset):
+            dataset = self._stratified_select(dataset, self.num_samples)
         return dataset
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def _stratified_select(dataset: "Dataset", n: int) -> "Dataset":
+        """Select ``n`` samples uniformly across the ``category`` column.
+
+        When ``category`` is present, each category contributes
+        ``ceil(n / num_categories)`` rows (capped by category size); the
+        result is truncated to exactly ``n`` rows by interleaving the
+        per-category samples round-robin so any further prefix slice
+        remains balanced. Falls back to ``range(n)`` when ``category`` is
+        absent. Indices come from ``range(category_size)`` (not random)
+        so behavior is deterministic.
+        """
+        if "category" not in dataset.column_names:
+            return dataset.select(range(n))
+        cat_to_rows: dict[str, list[int]] = {}
+        for i, c in enumerate(dataset["category"]):
+            cat_to_rows.setdefault(c, []).append(i)
+        num_cats = len(cat_to_rows)
+        if num_cats <= 1:
+            return dataset.select(range(n))
+        per_cat = math.ceil(n / num_cats)
+        # Take the first ``per_cat`` rows from each category (parquet order
+        # within a category is treated as the canonical sample order).
+        cat_samples = [
+            rows[: min(per_cat, len(rows))] for rows in cat_to_rows.values()
+        ]
+        # Round-robin interleave so the first N rows are balanced.
+        interleaved: list[int] = []
+        for i in range(per_cat):
+            for samples in cat_samples:
+                if i < len(samples):
+                    interleaved.append(samples[i])
+        return dataset.select(interleaved[:n])
+
     def _resolve_external_data(
         self, dataset: "Dataset", speed_config: config_type | str
     ) -> "Dataset":
diff --git a/examples/specdec_bench/specdec_bench/models/vllm.py b/examples/specdec_bench/specdec_bench/models/vllm.py
index 2e312e7aec..c7fc82c5c6 100644
--- a/examples/specdec_bench/specdec_bench/models/vllm.py
+++ b/examples/specdec_bench/specdec_bench/models/vllm.py
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ def __init__(self, model_dir, max_concurrent_requests, sampling_kwargs, **kwargs
             tokenizer=kwargs.get("tokenizer_path"),
             trust_remote_code=kwargs.get("trust_remote_code", False),
             tensor_parallel_size=kwargs.get("tensor_parallel_size", 1),
+            data_parallel_size=kwargs.get("data_parallel_size", 1),
             enable_expert_parallel=kwargs.get("moe_expert_parallel_size", 1) > 1,
             enable_prefix_caching=kwargs.get("prefix_cache", False),
             speculative_config=specdec,