The critical path can often be very wide and long and is not some small for loop deep down. Not all software is a video codec. Maintainability also does not necessarily exclude performance, smaller code can be easier to grasp and fit better into caches.
I’d argue that splitting what is essentially a four line check or default into something like three different functions makes it a lot harder to grasp.
I think my issue with clean code is primarily that it doesn’t actually make code more maintainable. As another poster mentioned, data or domain driven design does the same thing better.
