So if I dragged it all the way out as far as it will go to the beginning and the recorded data stops before 0:00 on the timeline (and I never start recordings at 0:00) that should be exactly when the track started to be recorded.
It all depends where you start to record a track from.
Best bet is to always record ALL tracks....from the start of the timeline. Often the time shown is 00:00:00, but could be whatever you set it at. I usually start most of my projects with a 1:00:00:00 time (because I work with tape, and other stuff, and need a longer preroll before 00:00:00: to lock everything)....but the time still begins at the start of my DAW timeline...never anywhere deeper in.
If you do that....then you can slice up a track and move parts around all day long...and you can always get back to the exact same starting position if needed.
Some guys will do that for some tracks....but then for smaller parts, they punch-in wherever they need them. Well, that's OK to do....BUT....once you move those smaller parts around, you will not be able to just expand them back to their exact original position (unless you made note of it), since they didn't begin at the start of the timeline.
Yeah...you save some disk space by not recording the entire track for a small/short bit of music...but you then have to be careful when moving.
Also...if you ever needed to transfer tracks to some other DAW....by having them always start at the very beginning of the timeling....you can drop those tracks in any DAW, push them back to the start of the timeline, and they will always stay in perfect sync. If you have small/shirt parts...you have to know where they are supposed to go, or spend a bunch of time moving them around until you find their best position.