diff --git a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/AbstractQueryPart.java b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/AbstractQueryPart.java
index 7241cb5e4e..b52aecd083 100644
--- a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/AbstractQueryPart.java
+++ b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/AbstractQueryPart.java
@@ -68,8 +68,6 @@ abstract class AbstractQueryPart implements QueryPartInternal {
         return new DefaultConfiguration();
     }
 
-
-
     // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
     // Deprecated API
     // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -179,7 +177,10 @@ abstract class AbstractQueryPart implements QueryPartInternal {
     @Override
     public String toString() {
         try {
-            return create(configuration().derive(SettingsTools.clone(configuration().settings()).withRenderFormatted(true))).renderInlined(this);
+
+            // [#8355] Subtypes may have null configuration
+            Configuration configuration = Tools.configuration(configuration());
+            return create(configuration.derive(SettingsTools.clone(configuration.settings()).withRenderFormatted(true))).renderInlined(this);
         }
         catch (SQLDialectNotSupportedException e) {
             return "[ ... " + e.getMessage() + " ... ]";