If you're applying removal, you won't go backwards. 

Now, if you're strip tilling and cutting rates(which I think you can cut 1/3rd, but, anyway) then you probably need to be a little bit more cautious. But fertilizer availability and usage is always more efficient in a band.

There's a book I read years ago but the name escapes me right now and I think he's right about that. There is some art, and some science to this. The main thing is to not think you know more about what's going on than you actually know. Folks act like soil test numbers and crop response are this exact thing. They're often not.