Hindsight is always 20/20, but just "what if"...
What if... despite whatever may have happened on the track between Stewart and Ward before the accident, Ward had just taken an extra 30 seconds to cool off, and thought to himself... Ya know, I'm going to always be able to say that I was beating Tony Stewart - until he ran me up the track and into the rail. I got run into the rail by none other than Tony Stewart!
He could have pulled that flat right rear tire off and put it up on the wall in his shop and had a memory and story for years to come.
Terrible situation for everyone involved.