Yes you're right - it comes across like that - apologies.
I'm thinking, go for speed first not Nr. If you are already below your optimim speed for an auto already, bleeding Nr might not be the way round it. Accelerate and gain speed while maintaining Nr, I would suggest before tweaking Nr.
But at the height he was in, speed increase was not an option, so why bleed Nr off?
How's he going to get it back?