Agreed. Whatever you target serving time is ... gear to pull it 4-5 hours prior to that and let it rest. It'll stay just fine and happy in the cooler. I'll be just as goooooood if'n not better.
I can see it now, Necked Man Arrested while trying to rescue food on his barbecue pit. You should be fine. Butts are hard to mess up. Pass me a piece of that nice bark please.
There is a long running debate on damping a smoke stack. I personally run mine wide open all the time. You might want to play around with it and see what works best for you. Welcome to the nutty world of barbecue. Don't think what you did last time will work next time. That's what makes barbecue so much fun! Are you having fun? Don't get all flipped out over things. As long as you get to eat your mistakes, It's all good.