Based upon video evidence, that I have reviewed:
-Comparing the driving path of the 1st car (blue color) that nearly touched Ward....this blue car continued to stay on his current driving path.
-Stewart's car path (compared to blue car's path) was slightly closer to Ward, but the key evidence is the increase of width distance of Stewart's car driving towards the wall (Ward's stalled car) after contact with Ward was made. This increase in width continues to grow as Stewart's car maintains contact with Ward's body and increases as Stewart's car passes Ward's stalled car.
What the heck does all that mean? It means that Stewart did not stay on his original driving path, he steered closer and closer to the wall (closer to Ward, Ward's car). You can see that after Ward's body is separated from Stewart's car, that Stewart swirves his wheel left to go back towards his original driving path.
Important point - none of the video evidence is proof of any intent or proof of what the heck was actually going on in Stewart's head. Most likely, no one is going to ever know what the heck both Ward/Stewart were thinking/feeling on that race track. (Other than, each individual most likely were thinking and feeling about driving well/winning the race).
The only proof that the video evidence shows is that Stewart was not maintaining his original driving path.