Chris. You just have to get used to automate stuff. It’s neither hard or error prone.
I never add extra tracks to deal with simple eq changes or similar, that would be a waste of time and resources.
Yes of course it’s possible to make mistakes but you’d make similar mistakes using clip effects I am quite sure.
Not that I would have anything against clip effects as such. Just that in your example you are looking at trying to solve a problem in a less than perfect way.
As for eq, as a mixer (and sound editor) I’d hate to get clip effects that I couldn’t easily see or control on my surface.
Automating eq is simple and fast in Nuendo. I automate the eq on pretty much each and every dialogue line of every mix I do (TV drama series and features).
Preview punch is my preferred mix setup (for static changes). When editing I have fill loop on all the time so I can quickly change the eq or filter easily for any selection. It’s super fast.