Fuel pump stand - what's up?

[Will D]

Any ideas for the reasoning of the addition of this little piece of rubber hose on the fuel pump stand? Discovered upon disassembly.

My first thought, it was used to hold the lower piece on the stand while inserting into the intake manifold but that makes no sense because the hole in the manifold supports that piece with the flange that is on the top of it. The only other thing I could think of is to maybe bandaid a worn fuel pump push rod bushing that was causing low oil pressure?