Problem/Motivation
See discussion in #655190: Allow hook_install_tasks() to be called from a profile's .install file (or document that it can't be) for background.
Also see #752730: Remove file_exists() during bootstrap which is trying to remove some unnecessary file_exists() + require_once() from bootstrap to replace them with just include_once() - that would remove most file_exists() in the critical path altogether.
Steps to reproduce
Proposed resolution
Use is_file in DrupalKernel.php
Remaining tasks
Review