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| I think the answer is VERY specific to region, and rainfall/soil types/topography (plus drainage plays a part in higher rainfall areas).
Here in our part of Western KY, our shallow soils and highly erodible hillsides don't lend themselves to any tillage. This is because when you till the ground here, the soil erodes down the slopes, especially with the recent 4-8" rains we have been receiving, and the fields often need tilling again later the same year to fill the gullies back in. So, keeping residue on the surface to hold the soil in place is our goal, and we haven't tilled our land for 24+ years. I think a tillage pass every +/- 5 years will also hurt soil drainage/infiltration, as we have a lot of connected pores from earthworms and cover crops that will be destroyed with a shallow tillage pass (the loose soil fills in the upper soil pores anyway).
In your example, if there is a small area that needs to be worked (where the ruts are) that's likely an exception, but here the longer term no-till is much more resilient to field traffic, so I think working it would disrupt that for sure.
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Never till vs occasional tillage
