<< You are probably talking about BIAB. >>
Nope. Talking about RB. And yes, I tested the way you import the file you want by selecting FILE then IMPORT and when the selected file imports, it always imports to beat 1 of measure 1 for me too.

Now I ask that you try the way I import a WAV file. Use the import WAV option in the Audio Tool Bar on the Tracks screen. You can place the audio anywhere you designate and it defaults to the curser placement. You do have to watch carefully because the track selection will jump to Track 1 on occasion.

<< If I have a song in SEQ format, and I write another section to merge into that song, it seems like there should be a way to open another SEQ file without closing the one that is open. >>
This is possible using the Scrap option from the File Menu. You select a scrap by copy/paste command and then choose the scrap save command and it saves that clipboard audio or midi as a Seq file that can be selected and placed in different projects. It's a bit tricky that you also have to be sure the Track you want to load a scrap onto is set to the same media as the scrap. ie: stereo or mono or midi. You would add your bridge blank measures first and then load the scrap to the bridge bar 1, beat 1.

<< What's the deal with that 2 bar ending? Does that mean Real Band is going to create an ending that it thinks I want? >>
Yes. Exactly what it means. Don't want it - Uncheck the box...

The 2 bar offset is required if you use BIAB generated tracks. RB uses BIAB generated tracks.

<< I want to put in a bridge at bar 39. I want to be able to say "Okay Real Band. Put in 8 blank bars at measure 39. In those 8 mars let me enter chords in the chord window. Then let me generate those 8 bars and JUST those 8 bars. >>
I think RB will do this but let me test it... I'll get back to this. If you import audio using scrap to the bridge, enter the scrap audio chord progression in the bridge, you should be able to multi riff or regenerate only the bridge region if it's highlighted and selected. I don't know if that's correct or not at the moment.

BIAB Ultra Pak+ 2024:RB 2024, Latest builds: Dell Optiplex 7040 Desktop; Windows-10-64 bit, Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz CPU and 16 GB Ram Memory.