Does all-caps text always need extra tracking?

Almost always, yes. Capital letters were drawn to sit beside lowercase letters, so a run of all caps looks cramped at default spacing and reads better with added tracking.

• Add positive tracking, roughly +25 to +75 depending on the typeface, to open up all-caps text.
• Headlines, logos, and short labels in caps look more confident with the extra air.
• Serif and display faces often need more tracking than clean sans-serifs.
• Check the result at final print size, since spacing that looks right on screen can shift on paper.