Head flow,vs. cam lift?......

Have you seen a set of Super Stock heads these days? They are FAR from "stock". A friend that previously held many NHRA national records in Stock Eliminator is now racing Super Stock. The sets of SS heads have huge amounts of welding and porting(including port inserts) and flow approxinmately 50% more than factory as cast. Stock Eliminator heads were factory castings although it is now very common to have them only look factory cast... but that class is lift limited. So cam lobe max velocity is key to making big power.
Cams should not wear out. The only wear they get "should" be at start up. In terms of an engine that's in a musclecar from the 60s, 70s, or even 80s - longevity is now measured in tens of thousands fo miles if at all, rather than a hundred thousand miles. So expectations for these engines has also changed.
As far as the physics of a faster cam lobe - yes - controlled fastest will always best both in terms of time in crankshaft degrees that the valve is open, and in terms of the wave tuning of both the opening and closing operations individually. That's why a modern cam lobe is not only fast (typically as fast as possible given the original design and the quality of the block machining) but also has a different opening ramp vs closing ramp.
You can bet your behind that the successful SE, SS, and FAST guys make use of this technology.