Not sure if the tail gunning comment was pointed towards me - but I don’t tail gun because I’m racing defensively or scared. I tail gun because for whatever reason it takes me a bit to get my legs going even with a solid warmup. Usually after a few laps I move up and am up front for most of the race. I even get called out for it and I’m totally fine with it. I wouldn’t recommend new racers to tail gun as my advice was just what I do.
And I do just fine in crits.