diff --git a/app/vmselect/promql/eval.go b/app/vmselect/promql/eval.go
index eac63a3369..56a9b189fd 100644
--- a/app/vmselect/promql/eval.go
+++ b/app/vmselect/promql/eval.go
@@ -505,6 +505,12 @@ func execBinaryOpArgs(qt *querytracer.Tracer, ec *EvalConfig, exprFirst, exprSec
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, nil, err
 	}
+	if len(tssFirst) == 0 && strings.ToLower(be.Op) != "or" {
+		// Fast path: there is no sense in executing the exprSecond when exprFirst returns an empty result,
+		// since the "exprFirst op exprSecond" would return an empty result in any case.
+		// See https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/3349
+		return nil, nil, nil
+	}
 	lfs := getCommonLabelFilters(tssFirst)
 	lfs = metricsql.TrimFiltersByGroupModifier(lfs, be)
 	exprSecond = metricsql.PushdownBinaryOpFilters(exprSecond, lfs)
diff --git a/docs/CHANGELOG.md b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
index d8fd86897d..f57d553069 100644
--- a/docs/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ The following tip changes can be tested by building VictoriaMetrics components f
 * FEATURE: [VictoriaMetrics enterprise](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/enterprise.html): add `-storageNode.filter` command-line flag for filtering the [discovered vmstorage nodes](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html#automatic-vmstorage-discovery) with arbitrary regular expressions. See [this feature request](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/3353).
 * FEATURE: [MetricsQL](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/MetricsQL.html): add [range_linear_regression](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/MetricsQL.html#range_linear_regression) function for calculating [simple linear regression](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_linear_regression) over the input time series on the selected time range. This function is useful for predictions and capacity planning. For example, `range_linear_regression(process_resident_memory_bytes)` can predict future memory usage based on the past memory usage.
 * FEATURE: [MetricsQL](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/MetricsQL.html): add [range_stddev](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/MetricsQL.html#range_stddev) and [range_stdvar](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/MetricsQL.html#range_stdvar) functions.
+* FEATURE: [MetricsQL](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/MetricsQL.html): optimize `expr1 op expr2` query when `expr1` returns an empty result. In this case there is no sense in executing `expr2` for `op` not equal to `or`, since the end result will be empty according to [PromQL series matching rules](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/operators/#vector-matching). See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/3349). Thanks to @jianglinjian for pointing to this case.
 * FEATURE: [vmui](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#vmui): add the ability to upload/paste JSON to investigate the trace. See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/3308) and [this pull request](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/pull/3310).
 * FEATURE: [vmui](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#vmui): reduce JS bundle size from 200Kb to 100Kb. See [this pull request](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/pull/3298).
 * FEATURE: [vmui](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#vmui): add the ability to hide results of a particular query by clicking the `eye` icon. See [this pull request](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/pull/3359).