I'm not a Box racer. But I have been fairly successful foot braking in No Box. The principles are the same. Cut a decent light, determine your finish line strategy, and see what happens. Even in No box the lights are getting tighter and tighter. Not uncommon to see .0X lights and.1X packages. My average light was .030 this year. Only 6 of them beyond .05 all year. Still plenty of room for improvement but getting closer. A brake won't help you at the stripe. There are a lot of racers pretty good at the tree. The other end separates to good from the best.
Doug