Simple answer is yes, the air in the engine compartment can be as much as 20 degrees higher than the outside as a lot of the air has come through the warm rad plus the warm air off the engine and exhaust manifold just below, and the carb close to the bulkhead can be sucking even warmer air in... so can put them slightly out of balance.
So an air-box with a nice cold air feed from the front of the car is always better.
I'm sure the people in Amazon Cars did a few measurments on this in the past.
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