[T3] Backfire Cause and Effect

[J. Jonik]

71 Std FI...Cruising on highway at around 70 mph, had to do a sort-of quicker than usual slow-down, just taking foot off the gas...no clutching.  Ka boom boom..   Two backfires. Mental note to check timing, points, dist cap, spark plugs etc...BUT, the loud Harley I thought was coming along behind me was...me.  It sounded like there'd be a nice visible hole in the exhaust but looking at everything visible, under and over and at pipe connection at the next stop found nothing obvious.   It was still too hot to feel around.
 It's a deep-sounding loud "exhaust leak" (or....).    The car made it back the 20 some miles  home driving at 60 mph)...but with a couple instances of a kind of hesitation...like more effort, instead of smooth flow, that came and went a few times.
 Will check muffler by hand for leaks after things cool down.  But, what else, maybe more serious, could it be? That is...what harm can a backfire do to an engine?

PS:    Not sure if car was quite level when checking oil before this trip...but level was just a tad ABOVE the "full" mark.  Will double check, but what if some fuel is getting into the oil?  Would that cause backfiring?   
   Then.... to look up info about Why Fuel Gets Into An Engine. Happened before...but forget solution(s).
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