It happens to me all the time. It started 3 years ago. Absolute nightmare. I literally never delete audio tracks anymore. I just drag them to a folder to hide them. So far there has been no fix for this issue. It gets worse the bigger the project. I’ve tried everything: deleting preferences, removing all plugins, effect tracks and group tracks, replacing all my thunderbolt cables, unplugging everything and using internal audio etc etc etc. Hours with tech support… This happens on both my 2020 Mac Pro and MacBook Pro. My only hope now is when I get a new Mac, I’ll install everything from scratch.