Feel like my 440 should be faster
Interesting. Seems like all signs are pointing to a cam change
no!, IMO, you need more cylinder pressure!
Yes an earlier closing intake would help; just not enough. IMO that 235* cam is just right for your BB, but it needs a DP at 5400ft.
But with your pistons being reasonably high , and already a thin gasket, this points to a reduction in chamber size.
3.23s will get you ~53mph at the top of First gear. IMO they are about the right gears for your streeter. You just need to stall it up to find some power..
But all this small talk could be settled with a compression test.
I did the calcs like
@PRH did and came to the same conclusion