I think it's important that this all involves more peak type power levels. It's not a time trial. It's a vicious acceleration where you're trying to keep in touch with a rider that is doing a lot of work to get rid of you. It's 800-1000-1200 watt stuff (for me), not 150-200-250 watt stuff. At 600-1000 watts 100-200 watts is sort of insignificant, I can easily spike an extra 100 watts without thinking about it. I'll do a "small" jump and only after the download I'll realize it was the peak for the ride/race at 1200 watts or whatever.
At 1000 watts a 2% margin of error (SRM's margin I think) is 20 watts. It's not even worth talking about numbers until you're outside that realm, so +/- 20 watts is simply "the same". It's +/- 50 watts, +/- 100 watts, that's where things start to add up.
Finally as far as shelter goes I usually apply zero power for about 30 seconds a lap at Bethel. Once I'm in shelter I'm good. If I'm not in shelter I'm burning 250-500 watts in the wind. That's a huge difference for someone that hasn't broken 200w average in a race for 3+ years (and when I broke it I did 202w and I couldn't sprint), especially if there's a hard crosswind or it's totally strung out. It's critical to be in shelter immediately and never to lose it.