diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.test.ts
index 22c632775dd..9365364b4cc 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.test.ts
@@ -1089,8 +1089,30 @@ describe('LokiDatasource', () => {
   });
 
   describe('getDataSamples', () => {
-    it('hide request from inspector', () => {
-      const ds = createLokiDatasource(templateSrvStub);
+    let ds: LokiDatasource;
+    beforeEach(() => {
+      ds = createLokiDatasource(templateSrvStub);
+    });
+    it('ignores invalid queries', () => {
+      const spy = jest.spyOn(ds, 'query');
+      ds.getDataSamples({ expr: 'not a query', refId: 'A' });
+      expect(spy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+    it('ignores metric queries', () => {
+      const spy = jest.spyOn(ds, 'query');
+      ds.getDataSamples({ expr: 'count_over_time({a="b"}[1m])', refId: 'A' });
+      expect(spy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+    it('uses the current interval in the request', () => {
+      const spy = jest.spyOn(ds, 'query').mockImplementation(() => of({} as DataQueryResponse));
+      ds.getDataSamples({ expr: '{job="bar"}', refId: 'A' });
+      expect(spy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+        expect.objectContaining({
+          range: ds.getTimeRange(),
+        })
+      );
+    });
+    it('hides the request from the inspector', () => {
       const spy = jest.spyOn(ds, 'query').mockImplementation(() => of({} as DataQueryResponse));
       ds.getDataSamples({ expr: '{job="bar"}', refId: 'A' });
       expect(spy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.ts
index 67697ee6f34..c7041a08a17 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.ts
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ import {
   DateTime,
   FieldCache,
   FieldType,
-  getDefaultTimeRange,
   Labels,
   LoadingState,
   LogLevel,
@@ -548,11 +547,11 @@ export class LokiDatasource
       expr: query.expr,
       queryType: LokiQueryType.Range,
       refId: REF_ID_DATA_SAMPLES,
+      // For samples we limit the request to 10 lines, so queries are small and fast
       maxLines: 10,
     };
 
-    // For samples, we use defaultTimeRange (now-6h/now) and limit od 10 lines so queries are small and fast
-    const timeRange = getDefaultTimeRange();
+    const timeRange = this.getTimeRange();
     const request = makeRequest(lokiLogsQuery, timeRange, CoreApp.Unknown, REF_ID_DATA_SAMPLES, true);
     return await lastValueFrom(this.query(request).pipe(switchMap((res) => of(res.data))));
   }